Forum Activity for @strumandorpick

Thanks everybody!

@lisa-c I love your photo!  As you wrote, we celebrate the sweet music and the community of caring players-- truly, a wonderful community. 

Celebrating the sweet music and its growing community of caring players. Thank you, fotmd, for this special #internationalappalachiandulcimerday.

@ariane Your music & your friendship bring joy to us!  I'll keep my eyes open for postings from around the world for IADD!  

@Alegre1 - Thank you so much for this lovely video - I have just watched it and enjoyed it very much.

@Robin & Mark - I am very much looking forward to hearing your video - your music is always balm for my soul and ears

Many greetings from Germany over the pond

Yes, the manufacturers offer different sizes.  Just select ones that are the proper size.  I know of three manufacturers-- Knilling (Perfection pegs), Wittner (Finetune pegs), and Pegheds, which are made in South Carolina!

Or, the geared tuners in viola size. Violin sized tuners might only look natural on smaller dulcimers. Check the sizes of the tuners and the instrument.

I agree with John,  If you want that traditional look go with Perfection geared violin pegs.  Simple to install.

I have had good results using Perfection geared violin pegs by Knilling.  The tuning action is very smooth for those suffering from arthritis or other hand conditions.  Any violin repairperson should be able to install them in a dulcimer.  They look amazingly like wooden violin pegs.  They are available from several online dealers.

A friend of mine recently had nice ukulele geared tuners put on a Jeffreys instrument and was happy with the result. 

I recently purchased an A.W. Jeffreys dulcimer from 1967 (I think - serial # 993). Although I wanted a very traditional style instrument, I am having trouble adjusting to the friction pegs. I'm thinking of replacing them with geared tuning pegs, as used by some violinists (not guitar-style tuners). Would welcome any thoughts or advice on doing so!

It's a great instrument-- Gary made fantastic instruments.    

Robin, that was a sweet box dulcimer!

Gary made wonderful box dulcimers and called them Prussia Valley Music Boxes because they weren't reproductions of Tennessee Music Boxes yet paid homage to box dulcimers.  All of Gary's instruments were well built and my PVMB sounded great!  Though I no longer have this box dulcimer-- a young music friend of mine has it-- here is a photo of it: 

Flint-Hill is indeed an Educational Working Farm in Lehigh County, PA.  No mention on their site of Ken Rice (or any other individuals for that matter).

Thanks so.  Is Flint Hill the name of a farm?  

Hi Keigh,

@flint-hill

Ken's FOTMD page is here http://fotmd.com/flint-hill
You can try contacting him through here, though he has not logged in here since 2015. He might get your email if you message him from here.

This is his Youtube channel page: http://www.youtube.com/@FlintHillVideo/videos

P.S. I just wrote to him from the only email address I have for him, with a link to this discussion.

The Revels Music site shows a good contrast between the different McSpadden kits.  The earlier ones had what McSpadden termed a "leprechaun scroll" on the end of the peghead and used Grover banjo-type pegs, while the newer models had a flat, two-piece guitar-style peghead with Gotoh-type machine tuners.

This Saturday-- the last one in March-- is International Appalachian Dulcimer Day for 2023!

Mark & I have a video uploaded to YouTube (it took hours!!!) and it will publish at 12:00AM, 25 March in celebration of #internationalappalachiandulcimerday .

I look forward to seeing how you all mark the day to celebrate the mountain dulcimer and its spread around the world!   

It's got a 6.5 fret slot, so it's not likely to be from before the 1970s.

Here's a couple of good online measurement descriptions of 1970s McSp kit dulcimers.

The strings should be just fine as long as they haven't spent a decade in a coastal/island salty air environment.  In the photo you posted, the top/sides/head&tailblock seem just fine.  Are the bottom planks too short?  If so, make that a sort of feature -- glue a short bit of contrasting color 1/8" plank to each end and give it a special "look".  

Thanks for the information! I was hoping that's what you guys would say . I am pretty curious what strings that old might sound like, hopefully they don't just snap. Unfortunately, during the original assembly by the person who gave it to my friend, the boards were reduced to smaller sizes than the instructions directed, as he just glued the parts together then sawed off the excess. so if will not be possible to assemble according to the directions, however this should only affect the precision of the box and hopefully it will still sound good. This definitely seems to be a dulcimer kit that has only passed through the hands of people who really didn't care one way or the other about woodwork or the instrument, and sadly I might have overlooked it a bit too long as well.
Nate

Nate, that is a real treasure. A wonderful gift to you.

Yep!   That's an oldie but a goodie. All original goodies.   As John sez, heat gun and gently pry the joints apart, let it cool and dry, and re-assemble.  Save the booklets for posterity.  Whatever's missing, I know you can make...

Nate, you have a treasure from the 1970's or so!  This is a wonderful McSpadden/The Dulcimer Shoppe kit.  If you can dis-assemble the joints carefully, and reassemble it per the directions, you'll have a dandy dulcimer.  If the glue used was Elmer's glue, or other wood glue, you might be able to warm the joints with a hair dryer or heat gun and pry them apart slowly with a knife.  Anyway, yes, this was a good-quality kit originally.  It's all as old as it looks, too!

Hello folks, a couple of years ago a friend gave me a half assembled kit dulcimer along with an instructional booklet, as well as"four & twenty" and a plastic sleeve with some strings. The booklet is made by The Dulcimer Shoppe and the strings are McSpadden brand, so the kit might be as well, but I can't say for sure. It was given to my with some of the work already done wrong, my friend tried to fix it without consulting the booklet, made it even weirder, gave up, and then had it sitting around for years until he found out I play dulcimer so he dug it up to give to me. Between some of the original pieces being lost, and the things done wrong, I still haven't gotten around to putting it together.
I'm hoping some folks here might know more about this kit and maybe just how old some of this stuff is. I cant tell if the books are just stylized to look late 70s folky or if it all might actually be that old. My friend indicated that it could be decades old, but he really had no clue beyond that. 
Thanks
Nate

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If I'm not mistaken, Gary was making wonderful and modestly priced box dulcimers at a time when almost no other dulcimer builders were making box dulcimers or Tennessee music box reproductions.

You are right, I spoke with him last summer to place an order through his store and he was so pleasant and kind. It was his nature. Similar to my dad, fighting a battle, but strong!

Enjoy that special dulcimer! 

@marg Gary was a great builder and player!  You're fortunate to have acquired one of his mountain dulcimers.  

Yes, many of us knew of Gary's health issues but you wouldn't know speaking with him.

  I was able to get one of his deep body dulcimers not long ago, it is so easy to fret and has such a great overall tone. It is a treasure and more so now. When I did speak with Gary, after getting his dulcimer, he was so pleasant talking about his dulcimers and shop. He will be missed not only by his family and friends but all of the dulcimer community. 

Keeping him and his love ones in my heart

Like Robin, I knew of his health issues. Gary was such a pleasant person, whether seeing him at festivals or conducting business with him through his store. I'm sad to hear of his passing. We lost another great one.

Gary's obituary: https://www.boyerfuneral.com/obituaries/Gary-L-Sager?obId=27518864#/obituaryInfo

You ain't getting counted! : )

Hey, I'm younger than 65!

We old we proud we dulcimer players we bad we nationwide. 

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Thanks for putting this here Nate. 

I left out in the vid that I surely appreciate the tone/timber of the bigs they are something special.

I hear there are tens of dollars to be made in dulcimer magazines and websites.