Mr. Templin died at age 65, and his obituary described him as a "folk instrument builder". He was buried from Usrey Funeral Home, Pell City, AL.
Gentlemen, I am most appreciative for the courteous and informative responses from your collective of esteemed luthiers. As of early morning this very day, I had never seen the word "luthier."
And I did peer through the sound holes I was able to see the following: Made by C. Earl Templin, Calera Alabama. How fascinating.
Apparently Mr. Templin passed away in 2008 and lived less than an hour from where I presently reside. His wife, Linda, passed away in 2021 and apparently was fond of playing the dulcimer herself, as well as the harp.
That’s all I’ve been able to gather so far on the history but I’ll keep researching and also see if I can locate a luthier in my area who can help with fashioning a bridge for it. Thanks so much for your help and Mr. Hulme, I’ll definitely take a look at your article.
Thanks again,
Randal
My esteemed colleagues John and Ken have helped you as well as I could have. I agree with John that the bridge/saddle is missing. It may have been made of bone if that is what the nut is made from. In order to make it playable you will need a new bridge. I also agree with Ken that the dulcimer is all walnut. And you really did find a great bargain on that instrument. Enjoy. Oh, and maybe someone on FOTMD from Alabama will recognize it.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Looks like this dulcimer had a floating bridge, which is missing. This type of bridge can be a challenge to deal with, but if you need help, one of us can walk you through the procedure. You are truly fortunate to have found this beauty! Best wishes.
What a beauty! I'd say that top and fretboard are walnut, as are the walnut shell sound hole covers. That ET/TE brand is certainly distinctive but I don't know who it is. Is there no label to be seen inside the sound hole(s)?
FYI the instrument has a true Diatonic fretboard layout -- with no 6+ or 13+ frets. Appropriate tunings would be (bass to melody) DAA or CGG. both are 1-5-5 tunings and use the same tablature.
Here's a link to a booklet I wrote several years back called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? which is an illustrated glossary (so we all speak the same jargon) plus answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing, care and feeding of your acquisition... The link to the article is at the bottom of this discussion:
Ken Hulme's "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?" Article - Strumelia | fotmd.
You're welcome to red, print and distribute it as you see fit.
Randal, that's an eye-popping dulcimer you bought! Such beautiful wood, graceful lines, and walnut shell soundholes, to boot. If it sounds half as good as it looks, your $3.99 was WELL invested! Works out to about a 99% discount, or so! I don't recognize the design or the builder, but obviously he or she has a lot of talent. Good for you! PS: Look for labels inside the soundholes if you can.
Nice to read about you David! Welcome to FOTMD. 
Now that I have been a member for a couple of months, I better introduce myself. I am David Wheeler and I currently live in Bainville, Montana (hence the BVmaestro user name). I am the K-12 music teacher for the local school. I teach all elementary music, JHS and HS bands and choirs.
I have heard of the dulcimer throughout my lifetime, but never took a nibble at the hook...until recently. I am at a point at which I need to foster my own music making activities to continue being useful in my job. I got so busy preparing and helping students make music, I was neglecting my need to do the same. So I bought a banjo, mandolin, and new guitar so I could study bluegrass and learn to play it. I reread about dulcimers and decided to rent both the mountain and the hammered dulcimer. Needless to say, the banjo, mandolin, and guitar are sitting safely in their cases whileI have been focusing on both dulcimers.
Since starting I have already accompanied a student on a folk song using the mountain dulcimer, and at the upcoming Spring Concert, I will be using the mountain dulcimer to accompany 2nd graders singing Shenandoah. I fell in love with the instrument. As soon as I am able, I will be purchasing my own mountain dulcimer from June Apple Dulcimers (my deposit and rental fees go towards the puchase). As I have been preparing for starting my Doctorate degree in music education, I also decided to include dulcimers in my music program.
I grew up a brass player, expanded out to other instrument, and began playing with guitars, bass, and keyboard when I started implementing Little Kids Rock into my program. I love the sound of bluegrass and folk music. Dulcimers are the next step and I love them.
I also teach Drivers Education during the summer (this is my last summer), and I enjoy camping, hiking, photography, and music composition.
If there is anyone who is in Northeast Montana or Northwest North Dakota, I would be interested in connecting.
Hi I’m new here having never owned a dulcimer … that is until now. I live in NE Alabama and a couple weeks ago I was out shopping at a local thrift store when I ran across the one I’ve included in this post. It was on a top shelf out of sight and I didn’t notice it but the lady with me did and said hey what’s that. Being lanky I reached up, pulled it down and it was very dusty, probably sitting atop that shelf for a long time. Having played some guitar when I was younger I knew what a dulcimer was, however; I’d never held one in my hands and know little to nothing about them.
I thought it was a beautiful instrument and that it would clean up nicely. And at a price of $3.99 I didn’t think I could go wrong even if I wound up just displaying it. Anyway I got home, blew the dust off of it, wiped it down and said Wow this is really nice, it just needs restringing. Now whether this is really a nice example I can’t say .. so that’s why I’m posting. I was hoping the collective here could provide some insight into its style, origin, maker, age, wood type, value etc. for me so I’d know what I had. And if I paid too much lol.
There’s a makers mark on the upper neck under the tuners that appears to read 186 and below that either TE or ET, as the letters are written together as one. Any insight into this dulcimer would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for allowing me to post.
Thanks in advance,
Randal
Michael, it's an encouragement to small-time luthiers to hear from our satisfied customers from time to time! I know Terry appreciated that phone call.
Well, it took me two months or so, but I finally reached out to Terry Pattison just a few minutes ago. I told him how much I have appreciated my Darcyhorse dulcimer over the years. He was very nice and really appreciated my call. We discussed strings (I STILL haven't restrung it yet) and he told me where he buys his strings (Stewart-MacDonald - stewmac.com). Really cool website if you build/repair instruments. Mr. Pattison said that he is currently building a dulcimer for a friend, but hasn't really been building dulcimers for a while. I think and hope that my call was a nice shot in the arm on a Monday morning.
Nate,
Good to be back. I fell down the rabbit hole of trying to master the use of 3D printed components to produce dulcimers with sound characteristics similar to wood. After several years of exploring a lot of dead ends, I have developed techniques that yield the acoustic and visual results I was seeking. I will be posting more details on my website, at stephenslutherie.com soon. You can also find my most recent blog post there, which discusses the smart dulcimer prototype I just completed. It incorporates a HyVibe System developed for guitars. The system is designed to give many sound shaping tools to acoustic guitars. Additionally, it gives onboard capability to record, loop, overdub up to four tracks and do a few more cool things. All of the features work well on my dulcimers since they are constructed more like guitars than traditional dulcimers.
The octaver effect tries to simulate shifting the played note a specified amount up to an octave above or below the note. In the process, there is significant loss of tone quality. If just adding a bass line it could be acceptable in some circumstances. What I am finding with most of the effects is that they can be added in small amounts to the basic sound of the dulcimer. Since you can layer two or three effects on top of one another the possibilities are endless. In fact, you have to limit your playing with the effects so that you get on with actually playing the dulcimer. Once dialed in and stored, however, the effects are easily recalled for use as appropriate. Some EQ, reverb and a touch of chorus can really warm up the sound and more than make up for any slight loss of character the 3D printed body may have caused (note that the tonal purity of the printed body can also be an asset).
I think you would enjoy the freedom a 3D printer provides to rapidly prototype ideas. They are starting to show up on craigslist for very attractive prices. In a few cases, ones that need repair are virtually being given away. Even a small printer can make instruments in sections. The software for designing and slicing the model are free downloads as well. With or without 3D printing, keep up the creative designs. They keep us all questioning what we know about the humble mountain dulcimer.
I think Dusty pretty well nails it. If you can't reach the chord, the tone is irrelevant. Tone can be altered in many ways that are independent of VSL. All the dulcimers I make have a 25" VSL. My basses and baritones have a very rich tone with plenty of overtones. I attribute that to the fact that my tops do not contact the neck and all my dulcimers have an inner or double back. You are certainly not afraid to think outside the traditional design and building constraints, so I think you can get the best of both worlds with a little experimentation. I have also made solid body electric micro basses with VSL's in the 23" range that sounded pretty acceptable.
With the use of electronics, virtually any sound is possible at any reasonable VSL. My latest smart dulcimer has an "octaver" effect that puts in overtones up to a full octave above or below the note you are playing. Plus eleven other effects to alter the basic sound.
I think Dusty pretty well nails it. If you can't reach the chord, the tone is irrelevant. Tone can be altered in many ways that are independent of VSL. All the dulcimers I make have a 25" VSL. My basses and baritones have a very rich tone with plenty of overtones. I attribute that to the fact that my tops do not contact the neck and all my dulcimers have an inner or double back. You are certainly not afraid to think outside the traditional design and building constraints, so I think you can get the best of both worlds with a little experimentation. I have also made solid body electric micro basses with VSL's in the 23" range that sounded pretty acceptable.
With the use of electronics, virtually any sound is possible at any reasonable VSL. My latest smart dulcimer has an "octaver" effect that puts in overtones up to a full octave above or below the note you are playing. Plus eleven other effects to alter the basic sound.
A new mountain dulcimer society was formed in the Chicagoland region in summer of ‘22. The Windy City Dulcimer Society welcomes players of all levels for a monthly jam, and occasional public presentations. We have a private Facebook page (by invitation only) that provides timely information about upcoming events. If you have interest in joining our group, or knowing more about our society please send an email to:
windycitydulcimersociety@gmail.com
Just saw this thread; what a great idea! In between playing dulcimer, if you have Apple TV, I can highly recommend Ted Lasso if you haven't seen it. Also, here is a photo of some happy chickens!
Thanks friends! Yep, it went well and I do notice things are definitely faster.
There will be some software updates coming up in the near future, and those may not be quite as smooth. 🚧 🚒
The best server maintenance is the one you don't even notice. In this regard the move was excellent
I have not noticed any problems. Sounds like a wonderful move to the new server.
No problems here.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song,"
The deed is done. All seems fine to me. Please report any noticed problems here.
If you notice any initial loading glitches, first just refresh your page, OR restart your browser.
All should be fine after the cache catches up to the latest state. Thanks!
Thanks for the "Heads up" Lisa. Best wishes for a successful move.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Hi everyone. I thought I'd let you know that on tuesday morning April 18 we will be moving to a new server and there might possibly be temporary glitches on fotmd for an hour or so. Not to worry, it should go smoothly and this move likely won't even be noticed. -the Management. :)
So much depends on the size of the peghead (or peg box), and the overall size of the dulcimer.
Choose pegs that don't look too big or too small for the instrument. Use your eye. 👁
My 29" vsl langspil was equipped with Wittner internally geared viola pegs:
It's an imposing instrument and violin pegs would have looked silly on it.
@bvmaestro -- As you've probably read, cardboard dulcimers are as cheap, and as good as you can get unless you build then yourself. If you DYI a batch of instruments you can get the cost down to about $20 each. Check out the program(s) of the Waldorf private school system...
Although the conversation happened a couple of years ago, I found the idea of replacing recorders with dulcimers interesting. I am finding that kids are aging with less fine motor skills. More students struggle even with the most simple recorder fingerings. I am looking at using dulcimers during my primary grades music instruction. As early as kindergarten, students will learn to count the frets (which correlates with the simple counting curriculum) while making music using the noter style. As they progress, they can learn to use fingering on the melody string to increase finger dexterity, and eventually chords. This would probably last through the second grade. At this point, then I can branch out to ukulele, recorders, guitars, etc. I will never replace recorder or ukulele, but the dulcimer will definitely prepare students for such making them invaluable in school music. Best part, kids will make music quickly and fall in love with it faster. I think I got the plan.
Well whatever his question was, probably at least one person has answered it by now haha
Ah! I just looked up the term "fret scale chart" and see that it is a chart showing the pitch generated at each fret position for each string. That is easy to do with an instrument with a standard string tuning schema, such as the guitar's EADGBE.
The dulcimer is an entirely different instrument in several ways:
So the fret scale chart for a string tuned to D5 would be DFGABCD (the fret pattern of an Appalachian dulcimer is in Mixolydian mode, meaning that the 'black' keys fall between the 2nd-3rd frets,
Well it is all speculation until the original poster replies and tells us what he means by "blue notes."
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Since he's a guitar builder and probably player, I think he is referring to blues notes.That's the reason for my recommendation.
Is he referring to BLUES notes -- which frankly can be any note at all. Or BLUE notes which would only refer to some chart/table of notes which includes some colored blue?
Ah! I just looked up the term "fret scale chart" and see that it is a chart showing the pitch generated at each fret position for each string. That is easy to do with an instrument with a standard string tuning schema, such as the guitar's EADGBE.
The dulcimer is an entirely different instrument in several ways:
So the fret scale chart for a string tuned to D5 would be DFGABCD (the fret pattern of an Appalachian dulcimer is in Mixolydian mode, meaning that the 'black' keys fall between the 2nd-3rd frets,
can someone help me with a fret scale chart of a mountain Dulcimer.
Preferably with the blue notes
Ah! I just looked up the term "fret scale chart" and see that it is a chart showing the pitch generated at each fret position for each string. That is easy to do with an instrument with a standard string tuning schema, such as the guitar's EADGBE.
The dulcimer is an entirely different instrument in several ways:
So the fret scale chart for a string tuned to D5 would be DFGABCD (the fret pattern of an Appalachian dulcimer is in Mixolydian mode, meaning that the 'black' keys fall between the 2nd-3rd frets,
