Total agreement that David has recognized this is what he needs. I commend him on his decision and wish him nothing but a bright future.
I agree with both of you. Black Mountain Dulcimers has provided quality instruments and will continue to do so, just not on as a large a scale as in the past. Building custom instruments for individuals in different from making large quantities of the one design for wholesale purchase. I wish David the best as he transitions to building one dulcimer at a time.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Forty years is long enough to do anything. Instead of lamenting that it's ending, we should congratulate David for such a fine run. I think we can all understand the desire to switch things up.
After providing a service for many years, sometimes you just need a break.
Gosh -- I'd forgotten about Sweet Music listserv!! Those were the days!
Thanks for honoring Tom and Missy here, Ken. From way back in the Sweet Music listserv days....
Thanks for posting this Ben. Probably should be a separate discussion. I enjoyed visiting with Jeremy at a few festivals.
I couldn't find an obituary for Jeremy. Ben, do you have access to one?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
The archive of DPN past publications is shared online here: https://issuu.com/dulcimerplayersnewsinc
I found it while searching for:
This may not be the post to put this on, but got notice that dulcimer maker Jeremy Seeger passed away on February 11. May he rest in peace.
….Should be ready in about 4 or 4 and a half months.
I am at such a loss for words... So much love and support has been shared through so many years from Tom and Missy... This is such sad news, and I am so sorry. His memory will be eternal.
I was shocked and saddened to see this news. My heart is with all of Tom's dear ones.
Very sad news indeed. Today is Missy's birthday. My sympathy goes out to Missy and the rest of the family.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Oh this is indeed sad news. Thanks for letting us know, Ken.
Tom Strothers, creator of the String Choice Calculator and Diatonic and Chromatic Chord Wizard apps passed away suddenly Monday morning 13 February, from a brain hemorrhage. 
RIP old internet friend...
Yes Ken I am actually playing a little bit and I feel there’s actually possibilities for me,I have also cut cherry for two more necks and some mahogany for the next fret boards ,walnut would be cool but that’s one wood I don’t have in my stock ,I do have a lot of cherry,they were right,they told me it was habit forming to build these ( for a woodworker) and even more so when it sounds good in the end…! I am thinking a Dulcimer is in the future.
Pardon all these pics,I’m working on image quality and format and also I need to find the edit feature on the comment box here( it seems to elude me!)here is another pic of my guitar full length and whole finally!
Working on loading photos to here,I think I have it licked -maybe editing too!
Working on loading photos to here,I think I have it licked
Sorry,my acronym caused so many problems,in the Cigarbox guitar world ,it does make the handle easier to use,and I grew up and served in the Armed Forces where acronyms are king but I do agree online people seem to make them quicker than you can learn them.At least in the Marines they are made official and formally listed as soon as the General says so!
The picture of my cgb,unfortunately image was a bit downgraded
Dwain,
I moved the nut toward the scroll .12" , set the location of the 6 1/2 fret by using the corresponding note on the middle string. The strings are 0.12, 0.12, 0.14, 0.12, and 0.24. Even though the measured locations are not exactly according to the fret calculator, it notes true and checks in tune with harmonics. It is a very easy playing instrument with a bold sound. I do think I will change the middle string to a .016 size, it has a slight twang . That may be caused by slot in the nut or bridge, will check that first.
All I have been able to find out about Davis dulcimers is what seems to be common info on the internet and a little info from a man in London who has at least a few of Bill's dulcimers.
Thanks again for your thoughts and directions. I am a relative newbie to dulcimers, I got my first one about 10 years ago after I retired the second time. I didn't build my first one until I turned 74, am now 81 and have built 131.
Bill R
I recently started playing the pure diatonic Jean-Ritchie-style dulcimer my wife built 50 years ago. No extra fret enhancements (6.5 or 1.5). For modal music, I love it's sound, ease-of-play, and slide-ability (something not possible on a chromatic). To expand its capabilities beyond noter-style playing, I've set it up with four-equidistant strings.
Exploring this instrument's capabilities, and developing proficiency and style in playing it, could last a lifetime. Musical genres that I like on this instrument are Appalachian, old hymns, traditional music of the Brittish Isles, Medieval, and Renaissance.
However, there are musical styles that sound good on the dulcimer but require more than hard-wired modal scales. For me, these are Jazz, Blues, Classical, Eastern European, and Klesmer.
Because I don't want to alter the beauty of my wife's pure-diatonic instrument by going down the slippery slope of adding extra frets whenever I encounter missing notes, I've ordered a chromatic dulcimer. But, for me, it won't replace my diatonic instrument for being able to capture the unique beauty of modal music.
I learned of this when I received my magazine yesterday. Ashley said she would keep the website up, and the festival and club directories.
I'd like to see some sort of blog or continued articles online if not in print. That's my wish anyway. I feel like the dulcimer community has done amazingly on embarking on the new online adventure. We still need a way to stay connected with the community as a whole. I do, anyway.
My first dulcimer was a Backyard Music cardboard kit. The fretboard (mercifully) already had the frets on, and it was easy to assemble. The tone was shockingly good. It's a nice little dulcimer, although it led to other things--a walnut kit from Cedar Creek (fretboard was pre-slotted, and I did not do a great job on putting on the frets, TBH), then my McSpadden, which is the only dulcimer I play now. And that cardboard dulcimer led to first a steel string acoustic, then a Stratocaster, then a nylon/classical acoustic, and now 3 Native Flutes from Highspirits.
That cardboard dulcimer was expensive, LOL. But yes, they make a nice kit, the frets are very well done, and it sounds amazing. They offer with and without a 6+, I didn't know enough to go ahead and get that and regretted that pretty fast. I knew nothing about dulcimers at the time, bought it more as an art kit that I could maybe play sometimes.
Thanks for the advice-3 strings for melody playing,making harmonies with 2 fingers,etc.
I'm glad you finished it and can enjoy playing it. Have fun.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
…I guess you learn something every day wether you want to or not!…
I saw a poster once with a cat hanging from a clothes-line. The caption was priceless:
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted."
Happy building!
@davisjames and @robert-schuler , I won't try to change your approaches to playing, but I invite you to consider other aspects of the dulcimer that also make it beautiful and unique.
For example, with only 3 strings, it's easy to use two fingers to play a two-note chord while playing a melody on your remaining string, or to smooth out your next chord change. Much easier to do that with 3 strings than with 6.
It lives,and sounds good now if I can only learn to sound good!
DavisJames, the drones and tuning in modes is what makes a dulcimer such a unique and beautiful sounding instrument...Robert
…Several of us are interested in playing different dulcimers and are looking into purchasing inexpensive cardboard dulcimers to try out chromatic, or 4 equal distant, or baritone tuned dulcimers.….
What are your recommendations? Ideas?
I forgot to respond to your note in the matter of baritone dulcimers. Any dulcimer can be strung for baritone tuning.
You can outfit any dulcimer for baritone playing. The matter of getting the right strings to do that is easy to do. The effects of the baritone strings, especially the bass strings, might take a bit more work.
First you have to find the tension at which the current strings are operating at when tuned to pitch. Knowing that, it is possible to choose strings which are that same (or similar) tension when tuned to your desired baritone pitch. I have an Excel spreadsheet for doing that.
Let me know if you'd like me to run it for your dulcimer. I'll need:
If the action of your dulcimer is low, the results will be more satisfying, as the intonation and compensation may not change. But you may find the bass string buzzing on some frets, as the vibrational excursion (how much the string travels up and down) may be greater. (Plucking and picking it from side to side rather than pulling up on strings will improve that, though).
If your dulcimer has a floating saddle (not set in a groove), you can re-adjust it to proper intonation (the saddle set-back needed to compensate for the increased pitch caused by fretting the strings) and compensation (the saddle slant needed to compensate for the difference in plain strings, and wound strings, of different diameters). If your dulcimer's saddle is set in a slot it will need attention from a dulcimer builder (Don't send a dulcimer in good condition to a guitar repair shop for such work unless you now the repair folks understand an respect the instrument. So many mountain dulcimers have been ruined by misbegotten notions of guitar repair people).
And the action can be adjusted by putting a thin shim under the saddle (a business card is good, but a stiff shim of wood or plastic is better). Let me know if you need help on how adjust the action for best playing and how to adjust the intonation. Instructions are also available at my website, under the menu item Dulcimer Building>Setup>. From there, look for the sub-items "Setting action" and "Intonation."
These matters all sounds complex if you've never dived into your dulcimer that far, but the problems and methods for dealing with them are easily explained. Most (probably all) of the builders here can explain them further.
True. Good point. But that only displaces the question. Folkcraft doesn't specify what wood the fretboard is made of, but I would guess poplar. I am not sure it could hold up to heavy strings on a permanent basis.
I have a lovely Tom Yockie chromatic.My second dulcimer.However I'm glad that my first dulcimer was a standard mountain dulcimer with a 6+1/2 fret[Folkroots].I find the drones plus re-tuning strings to play in different modes is such a big part of dulcimer playing...I would have been confused by a chromatic and perhaps missed the dulcimer's biggest virtue-the drone and the[resonant] harmonies you can make.Easy for me to say,I grew up with guitar and fiddle so I don't have to turn anywhere for chromaticism.I wouldn't advise anyone to begin their dulcimer playing on a chromatic..wait,then mix the instruments and techniques.
Dusty -- the strings are only attached to the fretboard not the body, so the body would not have stress on it from baritone tunings.
