Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

The wood laminates that McSpadden are of excellent quality. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. I've never heard of one separating. I think they were three ply with the outer layers being cherry or walnut and the inner ply either birch or poplar. I'm not sure when the changeover to all solid woods was made, but it was probably sometime in the1990s. BTW, the reason the Schnaufer model is no longer made is that the cherry laminate from which it was made is no longer available. David specified that only the cherry plywood could be used for the body of his signature instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Does anyone know what year McSpadden switched from laminate to all solid wood builds?  I’ve found several early 80s dulcimers in my price range  that looked very well cared for, but worried that time and the elements might weaken a wood laminate build.  

Thanks, John. I found some wiring instructions for a mini-humbucker that may be all we need. (Not really sure yet!) The diagrams I found were for Piezo, but it might not be all that different--just two wires!

Patty, check out the stuff on cbgitty.com  They show simple pickup set-ups and diagrams.  They could probably help you out.

Hi, My husband is going to make me an electric dulcimer, and I picked up a humbucker pickup & bridge recommended by a former builder on the web and am ready to buy an output jack, but we really are clueless about wiring the pieces up. Can anyone recommend a book (there are two for guitars on Amazon) or anyone who sells diagrams for dulcimer? We'd like to go as simple as possible on this first one.

Thank you very much shanon! I'm already having a lot of fun with it :)

Good luck on your journey.

William Duddy from Belfast, Northern Ireland is a trustee and active member of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club over here in the UK. I had a chat with him recently about how he got into music, his dulcimers and the folk scene in Belfast. Here's our conversation in my blog: Conversation with William Duddy

I realize this topic is old, but I tabbed out Jerusalem Ridge if you are still looking

I believe so. Good luck on your journey.

No, it's pretty well integrated.

Thats pretty interesting. Does the red rub off on your finders while practicing?

ahhhhhh, Time for thank you.   Thanks Richard for the Stewmac place to get the bone bridge and nut.   Steve, thanks for THE FABULOUS LIST of all your instruments.   way cool.  I have much of the same things and I so enjoyed making many of them through the years.  One person came in my house and asked, "Is this a music store?"  ha.  not......but that's how I got into making so many instruments for others.  Way fun!!!  But my husband played instruments and so do all my children.  aloha, irene

Irene Stew-Mac has bone bridge and nut material

https://www.stewmac.com/search/?q=bone+nut

They feel like plastic, but with a matte texture. If you run your finger along a string there's a slight sound, like with a wound string except much softer.

Susie, Thank you. I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers when I explained that you can’t sell your handmade flutes as “Native American Flutes “ if you are not Native American. I do own a High Spirit flute. I have many flutes from Erik the Flutemaker. I met him at the Texas Renaissance Festival many years ago. I have a McSpadden dulcimer from Mountain View, Arkansas and a Dulcimer Factory dulcimer that was made in Kerrville, Texas. Martin D-35, Taylor nylon string, Martin ukulele. Several Harmony ukulele’s.Deering Goodtime 2 banjo, Deering banjo/ukulele w/ resonator. A Martin Jr. Cajun accordion, met him and he signed my accordion . 2- autoharps( Oscar Schmidt), Cooper bodhran. Many Horner harmonicas. Skinny Bass foot drum. Yamaha electric piano. Fender Strat. Thumb harp. Wood tongue drum. Did I miss anything? Oh yea, several Irish tin flutes. You can say ,” I love my music.” It is true that “ Music soothes the beast “. It hurts me when someone butchers a song. Bob Dylan is not a very good singer, but he has written some of best songs, ever. I believe he is a genius when it comes song writing. I sorry, I’m just rattling on and on. When it comes to music, I could play all day. I go to several jam sessions a month. Time to go. Steve.

Thank you for that explanation. I see that on the HS website. I understand and agree with the distinction.  That said, I think in causal conversation, when we speak of our flutes, there's no harm in calling the HS flutes, Native American Flutes. I know I do. I'm thankful for such builders who are responsible and respectful and build quality flutes. In doing so, they are still honoring the Native Americans, the instrument, and the music.

Thanks again!

That is super cool Salt. I couldn't find one that was Hupa or Wiyot, but this Yurok flute may have been similar to the ones my ancestors heard, since there was a lot of cultural overlap.

 DCM_1_0775_379_lg.jpg - 67KB

I hadn't heard of the

"Aquila 11B red series" but the product description says "Nylgut made firstly elastic and then added with red copper powder in order to increase the density to about twice that of standard white Nylgut"

which I found really interesting. Id be curious to know whether they feel like metal or plastic to the touch.

If you are going with nylon strings, I really would recommend Nylgut brand, their set for "classic" banjo. Dulcimers and banjos have similar scale lengths and sometimes tune to the same octaves and notes. I've used both steel and various gut and nylon strings on all my banjos for about 25 years. I've found that on banjos, other brands and types of nylon strings feel overly bouncy, take a long time to 'settle', and tend to break too often. The worst in my experience were fishing line, and the Aquila nylons. The Nylgut strings have a nice tension, settle within hours, and very seldom break for me. They were a game changer.

Whenever I change steel strings I manually stretch each one repeatedly over the first few hours of play, re-tuning with each stretch.  It helps them "settle" faster.  I assume the same technique would work with nylon.

Nate,  I found a catalog that has pic's of a variety of Native flutes by tribe.......you and others might be interested in those pics, especially if you want to make your own.

https://flutopedia.com/fcat_old.htm

I'm now on the "Aquila 11B Classic Banjo Normal Tension Red Series" and I'm really liking them. They sound and feel about right to me. The only downside so far is they take a few days to settle into their tuning.

Pretty much.........I think the last paragraph of the Smithsonian article link sums it up..............I always found that the Drumhop site with the songs that each tribe used and the stories behind them were fascinating to hear.  Granted it can be a pick tricky to use but well worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing salt, these are cool. To my sensibilities, different tribes had different flutes and "Native American flute" is just a general term for one style of flute that some tribes made, which has been adapted into a western instrument.. Obviously pre-colombian flutes were not in A440, so that makes most "native American flutes" I've seen "cultural appropriation." The flutes I've seen in tribal museums, as well as the Musical Instrument Museum were often visually and functionally very different from each other.  If it were built traditionally, I would expect the name of a tribe and not just "native American." 

And Irene, I really look forward to seeing that dulcimer!

A great site too:

https://drumhop.com/music.php?page=97

Here is another link for your consideration...........

https://drumhop.com/music.php?page=135

Note the warble......characteristic of indigenous music of long ago.

The is a good read.......I've played these flutes for many a year and own a number of them made by Michael Graham Allen with whom I've been in contact many times over those years. MGA is a super musician, true gentleman and superb craftsman.   The issue is not the design of the flute so much as it is people appropriating another peoples culture and claiming it is something that it is not.  If you research native flute music that was recorded by real indigenous players from long ago you would immediately see the difference.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-center-folklife-cultural-heritage/2021/11/09/north-american-indigenous-flute-kevin-locke/

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/49186/do-we-have-any-authentic-native-american-flute-music-from-the-18th-century-or-ea

Dear Nate, you are so very right in your words here.   I learned how to make a native drum from a native that was living in Hawaii a few  years back.  I just loved it and came home and knowing that I'm not Native America and so I did some research on Celtic drums, and I am Celtic.............I started making Celtic drums and I've sold a few.   I also have 2 High Spirit Native style flutes and ordered a drone flute from another maker that doesn't pretend he's a native....I've had a lot of fun with these flutes.  I do have a full Navajo "sister" friend that introduced me to the Native flutes.   We've been able to play dulcimer and flute, harp and flute, and of course, drum and flute.   I just finished a bowed psaltery for her and we're going to play more weird combinations of our instruments.  Sooooooooooo fun. It's late at night, but I need to post some photos of the teardrop dulcimer that I made in Hawaii last February.  It's all out of Bible woods.  fretboard out of Olive wood, top Cedar of Lebanon, sides & back Koa (Acacia wood of the Bible).   It really has a unusual  tone and I need to know where I can get some bone for the bridge.   I have some hard wood there, but I think it will do better with a bone bridge.  I need to learn how to attach photos again, but it's too late at night and I'm going to bed.   aloha, irene

That is interesting Steve. It seems pretty silly to me but this is America and we do love to sue. As I was trying to look into it more, it seems like the native American flute got loopholed into being included as an "American Indian craft" just due to its name, since the instrument was called such for quite a while before that law was written. Still silly to me though, that someone would see the descriptor "native American" and directly assume that it must have been made by a real one, let alone it happening so often they passed a law lol. The flute herself does not know or care whether she is native American or native American style. Either way that law is interesting.

Nate

If you look on High Spirits Flutes, you will see he calls them Native American Style flutes. Years ago the American Indians sued the people selling “Native American Flutes” when the person making the flutes had no Native American heritage. Now when selling a “Native American Flute” it must have been made by a “Native American “ or if not by an “American Native “, it must be sold as “Native American Style “. “Native American Flute Style “ donates the type. “ Native American Flute “ donates it is an official “ Native American”  made flute. If you are making flutes and selling them as “American Native Flutes” and you are not full or part  “Native American “ you are deceiving your customers and are libel. You must label your flutes as “Native American Style Flutes”. This is not BS. Steve B. Next time before you reply, check out your info. and you won’t have to eat your words.

I often use mandolin strings on my dulcimer, which are phosphor bronze. At my local music shop, they are only a dollar more than the pack of dulcimer strings but come with 2 of each gauge. They are basically the same gauge as dulcimer strings, and the extra 2 thickest strings can be tuned a fifth lower than the root note, so with one pack you could string up a 4 string dulcimer Dadd and a 3 string dulcimer AEa, or whatever tunings suit your VSL. 

Nate

If so, I'm in big trouble!

Steve, I believe "native American flute" just denotes the origin of the style of the flute, not that specific flute. To me it's a bit like saying you have to be French to build a French horn, English to build an English concertina, or Appalachian to build an Appalachian dulcimer.

Some people might actually agree with that last one

Jacob, I am vey sorry to burst your bubble. I have a High Spirit flute. They are not “Native American Flutes”. The man that builds those flutes is not a Native American and thus he can not call his flutes “Native American Flutes “.  He makes really nice flutes. Sorry! I believe he calls them Native American Style flutes. Steve.

Funny thing about cobalt and gold strings: I'm also allergic to gold and cobalt. Apparently when you combine gold with titanium dioxide (found in sunscreen) you can be allergic to it. The patch test on my back was a non-itchy red postage stamp for a year, I kid you not.

I don't have to be wicked careful about any of these allergies--it took a week of consistent practice to remember I have the metal allergy, and then it was just a bit of irritation on the fingers (like mild poison ivy). 

Silver-plated should be good, though. I'll likely end up with them, once I finish a tour of non-metal options.

In general an instrument built for steel strings will have less volume and sustain when using nylon strings. This is because nylon strings are typically at a much lower tension, and dulcimers made for nylon strings are typically lighter, in order to be more responsive. The strings will eventually stop stretching and will keep their tune. If youre not happy with the tone you might be best off sticking to metal strings. I do like silver coated strings, as well as plain steel. I dont know much about nickel allergies and how careful you have to be, but I also used cobalt strings one time and gold coated strings another and found the tone nice for both.

Update: I've put baritone ukulele strings on my dulcimer. It's playable. Much less sustain. I'm not thrilled with how long it takes nylon strings to settle in--it feels like I have to retune every time I pick it up.

I'll have to double-check the package, but I think the strings were D'Addario Clear Nylon (EJ65B).

I'll live with these strings for a few more days, then try out another set I got.

Thanks a ton to both of you for the positive encouragement! So far I've been keeping the headstock tuner turned on while I practice scales, so I can adjust. Ive never been great at knowing if I'm in tune so this will be a big challenge for me.