Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Welcome Mivo!  You have a fabulous journey ahead... enjoy every step.

I thought it interesting that you said "... I also believed it was just for accompaniment, not for solo instrumentals,..."  when in fact it has nearly always through its history been a solo instrument rather than an ensemble member.

As a new player I'll suggest you take a look at the essay/booklet I write a number of years ago for beginning players.  It's called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? .  It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms (so we all speak the same jargon) plus answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing care and feeding of your new friend.  You can find it here:

Ken Hulme's "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?" Article - Strumelia | fotmd.com

Feel free to copy and print it as much as you want.

Hello again Mivo. Thanks for sharing the beginning of your dulcimer journey with us. It sounds like you are well under way. You have a very nice McSpadden dulcimer. It will give you a lifetime of pleasure.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to drop a note here to say hello.

I'm brand new and rather spontaneously picked up a MacSpadden dulcimer a few days ago after watching some videos that had showed up in my YouTube side bar. I live in Germany where dulcimers are pretty rare beasts, though luckily I found the dulcimer store by Martin Oesterle (I believe he's a member here too) who set aside quite a bit of time to talk to me about dulcimers on the phone and answer my numerous questions. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted, I just knew I didn't want the laminated dulcimer-shaped objects that a big box store sold.

I somewhat play the banjo, ukulele, and the kalimba, and in a way it is surprising that it took me so long to get into the mountain dulcimer. It had shown up on my radar a few years ago, but for some reason I didn't look further into it. I think I saw "three strings" and that sort of lowered my interest a little, thinking it might be too limited. I also believed it was just for accompaniment, not for solo instrumentals, and I felt I already had enough instruments. If I had known how versatile and downright beautiful sounding dulcimers are, I'd probably have been here years ago already. Well, there is a time for everything! :)

I'm still all over the place, absorbing information and experimenting with everything, so I don't really have any preferences yet. I do like the chord melody style quite a bit, but also played a little with that tiny noter that came with my dulcimer.  Flatpicks are a relatively new experience for me as I've always fingerpicked the ukulele and the banjo (I play it with fingerpicks sometimes, but I prefer the "old time" styles of picking with bare fingers for the more organic sound). I quite enjoy the flatpick so far and bought "a few" different ones already. Fingerstyle on the dulcimer hasn't called out to me yet, though in time I'll no doubt try that out too. But I do have these other instruments for fingerpicking and it's nice to learn something new.

Anyway, I'm glad to be here and hope to learn from you all. Here are a handful photos of my dulcimer . I took them outside for the better light. It's just the standard walnut model, though it does have a pick up in case I ever want to plug in or toy around with effect pedals. I have little doubt that this dulcimer will eventually be joined by a friend or two -- but not before I've practiced and improved for some time! If I learned one thing from the Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome that I suffered from a decade ago and successfully recovered from, it is the importance of first practicing and learning before shopping for more!

It was so fun getting to know Ashley! She picked most of the music for this episode. This is a rare episode that has music from both hammered and mountain dulcimer players.

What a great idea to profile Ashley!  She does such a great job with DPN and contributes so much to the magazine and the dulcimer community in general.

Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 58
Ashley Ernst, Publisher and Owner of Dulcimer Players News

https://dulcimuse.com/podcast

In this episode we’re featuring our conversation with Ashley Ernst, the owner and publisher of Dulcimer Players News. DPN has been the quarterly magazine for mountain and hammered dulcimer players since 1975. With music from both hammered and mountain dulcimer musicians.

You can listen to all of the  Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast  episodes directly on our website: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast  or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Here's the resource page for this episode: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/058.html

Thanks for listening!

Patricia Delich & Wayne Jiang

Milo and Frankie ❤️ Awe!!!  So sweet!

Daffer and Annabell are adorable!!!  Sure brings back some great memories….we had Alpines Nubians and Pygmy goats

I may have to dig up a photo that my kids wouldn’t want made public…HAHAHA!  Our 4-H goat club used to have a costume class…….

Milo and Frankie are real cuties!

Daffer and Annabell....gotta love the goats!

Here are Daffer & Annabell, pets of a friend. She says that they are giving a green thumb's up to my most recent video:

"Tutorial, Simple 3 Chord Sing a Long"  where I tell of singing Home on the Range" to my goats.

 Goat Test 2.jpg - 507KB

@dtortorich , you can find a few additional Christmas carol videos if you do the same thing but use the search term "holiday".

Hi there!  I just now went to FOTMD's Video section and typed "Christmas" into the search window there, and this popped up:
https://fotmd.com/search/results/jrVimeo,jrYouTube,jrVideo/1/25/search_string=Christmas

Hello Friends, this is Bro. Dave.  With Christmas approaching I'd like to hear what some of your favorite Christmas songs are.  If anyone would like to share one with me, then please do.  Thanks

I'd like to see some Christmas music and songs.  Do you have any?

The mountain dulcimer makes an appearance about 1-hour 15-minutes and the album which featured mountain dulcimer, Rehab Reunion, about 1-hour 22-minutes. 

Good for you Frank. I wonder if we still have our cheese slicer around. If we do, I'll check the gauge of the wire on it. We switched to a cheese knife years ago.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm waiting for the experiments when you determine the best string gauge for different cheeses.  That soft havarti probably prefers a lighter gauge than the well-aged cheddar.

Great McGyver!

Oh i love it! 🧀

How creative. Great idea.

Brilliant!

Last month our old beloved cheese slicer broke. Just the wire broke. I used an old dulcimer string to repair it with. The screws holding the old wire pieces were removed and a piece of dulcimer wire inserted.It worked great. The hardest part was tuning it to Cheese #.

FWIW, I heard from Howard, he tells me March 1989

Drop Howard a note.  He's usually glad tohelp with dating their insruments.

She is sweet sounding and I am stoked. Also, she is large! and I am small so we will see.... I spent last night reading up on Rugg and Jackel, and I am curious about the possible year of manufacture. Can anyone (Howard?) comment? Thanks in advance

Lisa, I'm just going to repeat what other have said, but phrase it in a different way. 

Forget the strings.  Look at the grooves in the nut and bridge on your Mize.  Do they look the same as those of the Blue Lion?  If so, the instrument can be strung as a traditional 3 course dulcimer with either 3 strings or 4 (with a double melody string).  If not, then you may be correct that it can only be strung as a 4 equidistant instrument.  If that is the case, then you might consider replacing the nut and bridge rather than buying a new instrument.

Having said that, Blue Lions are wonderful instruments, and if you can get an affordable used one, you might want to do so.  I would only caution you that Blue Lions have a floating bridge, meaning it is not glued to instrument.  If it sounds off when you first play it, the bridge probably needs to be adjusted.  If you change the strings, do so one-at-a time so the bridge doesn't move.

Neat, congrats! Would love to see pics when you have time.

Lisa, I have owned a Mize and own two Blue Lions.  (I only sold the Mize because the tuning pegs were wooden and my aging hands couldn't manage them very well.)  To my knowledge, a Mize and a Blue Lion can be strung with 3 equidistant strings and it is a good way to begin learning to play mountain dulcimer.  

P.S.- Though it is rare to find an inexpensive Blue Lion, my first Blue Lion was bought used (yet in new condition) for far less than a new one cost.    

John and Ken have already given you good advice, however, I'm going to add another one or two. First, from the photo the Blue Lion looks to be in good condition. It can use a good cleaning, but that's not a problem. I play my Blue Lion as a three string as I prefer that to four strings in any configuration. Second, I'm sorry you've had bad experiences buying used dulcimers. It can be frustrating. Like Ken said, we can help talk you through replacing a nut and bridge if that is all that those dulcimers need. There are resources out there for playing with four equidistant strings, both books and videos. I do think that most of them (if not all) require some knowledge about how to play the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

As my friend John suggests, look closely at the nut and bridge of your Mize dulcimer.  There may be two notches, close together, on the melody side.  To make a 4-equal string setup into a double melody plus mid and bass drone setup, all you have to do is loosen and move the one equi string over to make a pair in the melody position.    The double-melody setup is very common for beginner and experts alike.  

Even if there are no second notches, you can either make a second notch using a small triangular file in the existing n&b; or buy a new nut and bridge for a couple bucks and replace the existing ones.  In either case you can then get rid of the 'leftover' middle string and just have 3 strings.

We can talk you through filing new notches or replacing the existing nut & bridge.  You won't be the first...  It's actually very easy.

Blue Lions are NEVER cheap, and you've already not had such good luck buying used.  If you're going to spend more money on yet another instrument, buy a new Folkcraft or McSpadden or an instrument from one of the numerous builders who hang around here.  

Lisa, the notches on the Blue Lion's nut look like they can accommodate either equidistant or doubled-melody setups.  If it has 5 or 6 notches, then you could string it either way.  I prefer doubled melody myself, which looks like:     I I     I      I  . 

If you want just three strings, leave off the second of the double melody strings.  If you can find somebody there to make a new nut and bridge for your Mize, you might be able to use that one to learn on.  Folkcraft Instruments sells Delrin nut and bridge multi-packs for 1-3/8 wide, 1/8" slotted fretboards (# 2851420).  Just something to try.  Best wishes!

I joined this group some time ago, and sadly still don’t know how to play the dulcimer due to the fact that I have bought two used instruments neither of which were suitable to learn on. The first I found out was a cheaply made instrument and would need to be upgraded to give me a decent chance at being successful. The second is actually a very decent Mize dulcimer, but I found out it is an equidistant stringed dulcimer and I couldn’t really find information for a beginner starting out with that type. I am not aware of any instructors in my area to ask for help. At present, I still have the desire to learn, but haven’t had the opportunity to see a variety of dulcimers in person or the funds to buy a very expensive instrument. There is a Blue Lion for sale near me. They aren’t asking a lot for it, but I’m afraid to buy it without knowing if it would be suitable for a beginner as there are many things I may not know to consider. From zooming in on the picture, it looks like it is made to be strung in the traditional style ( and maybe converted to equidistant based on the notches I see). It is a model IW if that helps with feedback. Thanks so much  

Well, I have another one!  I found it on the goodwill site.  It looks like a Black Mountain, but has no label. 

I'll post some pictures of some of my dulcimers a little later. 

This one came with only one string (the bass string); also the saddle is a bit damaged and the nut is a bit out of place.  So I'm going to take it to my favorite luthier down the road. 

Here’s the description from the listing:

”Unfortunately I can't tell you much about this Instrument it was my Dads so I’m not sure if it was bought or he made it, whichever way it is a beautiful Instrument. One of the strings is missing and there is a soft leatherette bag which was made of it.

Low starting price due to the origin of the instrument.  Ideal I suppose if you’re curious to know what one plays and sounds like.”

It hasn’t sold yet; it was on a 24 hour listing and didn’t get any bids. It’s now back up on a 10 day listing, but still collection only.

Let me introduce my two - Milo & Frankie. Frankie (on the right) was 6 yesterday, and Milo will be 7 in January.

Both of them were rescued as puppies when we lived in Spain.

I ditto the "Doh!". I guess we will never know since it was an eBay sale and have no idea who sold it or may have purchased it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Doh!   How did I miss that! 

 So... yes, this is either a kit instrument built backwards, or someone's one-off 'mirror image'. Certainly not a commercial product.     I'd bet it's a kit of some kind built nose-to-tail.  The shallow-sloped tail end should actually be the shoulder below the tuning head, and the more rounded bout should be the tail!

Good thing you didn't buy this.  It may play OK, but it's only real value is as a curiosity.

I thought the same thing, Dusty!  Like the soundbox is inverted somehow.