I use two holes in my tempered scale dulcimers and three in my Galax style dulcimers. My fingerboards are hollow and holes greatly improve tone. And most of all they look really cool... Robert.
There is probably a mark or faint indentation somewhere where the bridge sat. Hey it could be worse. Imagine a fiddle where the bridge and bridge post falls away. Resetting intonation is real easy don't worry... Robert.
I got a sewing machine to make bags for my dulcimers. Found that pant legs from old blue jeans make great gig bags. Robert...
I have two high C a Bb and D. All are tweeked. Tweeking makes the whistle sound more even and predictable in the second octave. I have a Tony Dixon polymer low D which is a relatively inexpensive low D whistle that sounds great but takes a pipers grip to play. I don't recommend low whistles for people with small hands.... Robert...
I got a four way traffic light down my road. Stopping at red takes two minutes out of my life. Now I use that time playing harp. Most times I don't mind if the light stays red a little longer... Robert.
Like John, I build and sell dulcimers. My advice to you is ... Feed your habit...
... Robert.
The fun thing about diatonic instruments is working with a limited scale and octaves. If you play a whistle you know what I mean. An option in Dad or Ddd to reaching over, is to play from the upper octave and use the lower octave for the reach over notes. One reason I play mostly in Daa is because I get most of those lower notes on the melody string... Robert
I always build with a double melody string. Buyers expect it. Although I never use it in my own playing. I think most players come around to single melody eventually... Robert.
Kevin's comment reminds me to add that I'm playing dulcimer with D tuned guitar in noted drone style... Robert.
I have no problem playing my ji dulcimers with guitar. They sound absolutely great togerter. The important thing is this... Say your playing in D... Tuned Daa...the guitar must be tuned in open D... That is DADF#AD... And tuned to the dulcimers D&a strings. Unfortunately most guitar players cannot play in open D... Shame shame shame.. Their loss... Thanks Anne !!!..... Robert.
Strange coincidence... Without thinking about the anniversary I spent yesterday and today listening to all their too few albums. I remember 1966 as a big year in pop music. But lacking in creative genius. R&M Farina were truely creative at a time when we needed it most. Which is why the radio never played their music... Robert...
Also. To match your fretwire you can exchange a little used fret like the 13.5 for the 1.5. With care you can make a fret slot with a box knife. Just an idea... Robert...
Simple way is to CA glue a piece of wire in the location. Find the location by ear or measure it using Stewart Macdonald fret calculator. Doing the job yourself even buying tools will be cheaper than a luthier... Robert.
I'll second Cynthia's ironing board. Off course finding an ironing board today is almost as hard as finding a possum board. Playing standing up allows you to swing with the beat.. Robert.
Fret spacing and scale length are fixed amounts. Compensation will add a millimeter more or less but has nothing to do with fingering. Once your string gauge and compensation is set you can forget it and get on with the fun. I tell people all the time to take advantage off all your fingers. Over time you get the dexterity to play equally well with every finger. Once you get there scale length doesn't matter much... Robert...
A good man indeed... With sadness... Robert
I build dulcimers with scales from 24" up to 30". If you measure the separation from the nut to the third fret of finger stretch in chording the distance on 24" vsl is 6 3/16"... 25 vsl is 6 3/8"... 26 vsl is 6 9/16"... 28 vsl is 7" and 30 vsl is 7 5/8"... I like 26" overall for chording and noter playing. Although 25" is incredibility easy to chord on. For only playing in noter style nothing beats 30" for tone. Robert
Play books has a 60 page free sample. I read most of it this evening. Very through to say the least. If anyone wants to know how all this great music came about this book is an excellent place to start. As for me after reading on a tiny phone screen I think I'll just rest my eyes and play some banjo. Thanks Ken.... Robert...
Fiona ought to know. Love her radio program... Robert...
On utube look for Gavin Atkin. He's a button accordion player who plays this tune and many others slow. Very easy to learn from his videos..
I discovered my recorded version has a c part that was not part of the original tune. It was added by some Canadian fiddlers, taken from the tune Money Musk... neat huh... Robert...
I made this recording of Gaspe Reel a few years ago in Dadd although I play it today mostly in Daa. I learned mine from listening to fiddle players and is a bit different than the Bill Spence version your thinking of. Although challenging at first its a simple tune and fun to play... Robert...
I built a 10" A scale banjo just to play with fiddle. As you can see it's the same size as a dulcimer. When I started playing fiddle, I retuned in fifths so fingering would match fiddle. Much like octave mandolin, capo to viola or fiddle.
Playing frailing style banjo doesn't sound as good in fifths as with traditional banjo tuning. The haunting sound isn't there.
In fifths I play banjo with a pick mandolin style making it easier to transpose to dulcimer.
WARNING...Yew piney mountain is a great tune. I spent 4 months last year playing it everyday until I broke the spell. Dwight Diller is serious about putting rhythm before melody. And you can hear it especially in his fiddle version. He just put out a bunch of really great OT recordings.
Go to Slippery Hill fiddle tune web site. There tunes are listed based on tuning and modes... Robert...
You can set the bridge at an angle too. Usually angle it toward the nut on the high d and towards the tailpiece on the low D. Once you get it set it should work in any tuning. Robert...
Here I built a bunch of identical dulcimers with a mix of woods. All sounded maybe 90% in common with each other. Type of woods and weight defined the last 10%. Although I've come to my own conclusions about wood choice another person probably would not agree. Butternut, poplar, cherry are my favorites... Robert...
James, my hickory model is exactly the same as your poplar model except 3/8" deeper body. Defiantly a more mellow tone and notes have a very clear undistorted quality. Less overtones perhaps ? This is the only hickory dulcimer I've made so can not say if all hickory dulcimers will sound this way... Robert...
Ken, I couldn't agree more. I built a hickory top and back model with a 1.75" deep body. Somewhat muted but a remarkably balanced tone. A great dulcimer to sing along with.
No two dulcimers ever sound alike and you don't know how a dulcimer will sound until its tuned up. Half the fun of building dulcimers is the surprise you get when you first play them... Robert...
Marg the good news is that it takes a lot less tension to tune light gauge strings to pitch than heavy strings. The dulcimer in my avatar is 25" and tunes very easy with .010 strings. I use viola pegs on that model. Once the strings got settled in I only have to tune it once every few months!!!. Robert.
Electronic tuners are good to get the root note but after that its always better to tune the dulcimer to itself. Unless someone has invented a tuner that hears the suttle nuances...
Everyone should own at least one dulcimer with wood pegs. Preferably a set that's properly installed... Robert...
20" scale is a G dulcimer. Ment to be played with light gauge strings in Gdg tuning. Put a capo on your dulcimer at the third fret, retune down to Dad and listen. It won't sound quite as good. Adding heavier strings makes a small dulcimer grone not drone... Robert...
I have a peg reamer but never could get pegs to work well because commercially made pegs were never a perfect match. So I built this simple peg shaft sander out of scrap maple. Now pegs work much better. Look at the two pegs. One is reshaped the other raw... Robert.
Here is a picture of two banjo's I built. One has a $4 set of ebony fiddle pegs. The other $80 geared fiddle pegs. Can you tell the difference. ?.
We have the technology... Robert...
Basically you turn them while gently pressing them in. Even properly installed pegs can be a problem to tune. They work like a charm one day and stick and slip the next. They look great, and their cheap, about $4.00 a set. But most folks convert them to geared pegs at some time. A geared conversion will cost around $100.00. A common sound I hear in the night is the sound of pegs popping loose on my pegged instruments... Robert.
Kitchen Girl is a fiddle tune that could be called mixodorian. Since one part is mixolydian and the other is dorian... Mixing modes is like mixing paint. Leave it to the listener to decide... Robert
Robin. Misirlou is copyrighted... Except for my little movable nut pictured above, I've managed to get through the last 45 years without a capo... There are ways... Robert....
