Forum Activity for @patty-from-virginia

Great article. Thanks for posting this!

John, I'm sorry to hear about Mary. I'm lifting you and your family up in prayer. May God give you comfort as only He can. 

I saw this on ED and thought I would share it here. I was going to post in the build discussions but I thought everyone would be interested in seeing this. Someone brought a vintage Virginia dulcimer to the Antiques Roadshow. It was appraised between $3,000 and $5,000.  It interesting to see what the appraiser says about this piece. Notice the fret across the sound hole on the fretboard. The appraiser's last name is Keane. Is that a coincidence or what? LOL

Here is the link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/18/richmond-va/appraisals/appalachian-dulcimer-ca-1880--201308A20

My daughter and I have been to a couple of campfire events. If it's done correctly and you are sitting near the fire (not too close) you should get enough ambient light to see the fret board. If you feel you will not be able to see, Ken's suggestion is a good one. As for me, as Ken said, repetition is the only way I can memorize a song. When I play it so much that I'm just about sick of it then I know I got it memorized. Take a line at a time. When you got that one down go on to the next adding line by line. You will be using muscle and mind memory to know where to place your fingers or noter if you play noter drone. 

JK, Forgot about Possum Cafe, LOL. I just want to see you playing the tuba. I miss Carrie. Please tell her I said hi next time you speak with her. Thanks!

John, if you and Karen play dulcimer with a tuba I would love to see that. Yes I would!!!

 That is cool!!! Congrats to Randy and Dave. I miss Dave posting videos here. 

John, I like just the three strings. I took the extra melody string off my Cabin Creek (Walter Messick) because my narrow finger kept splitting the strings. The only dulcimer I have with the double melody strings is my McSpadden. Seems the two melody strings are closer together and I don't have that problem. I really can't tell any difference in volume. It's more a difference in sound. To me the one melody string sounds cleaner and more distinct. That's just my personal opinion. 

After looking at the picture it just may be Equal Temp but pictures can be deceiving. 

I agree with Rob as well. You might want to check its intonation. It may not be Equal Temperament. It might be in Just Intonation. I would definitely check that out before you start adding frets. If you already have dulcimers with the extra frets I would suggest you leave this one just exactly as is other than changing strings. 

Use your handle that you use for Youtube. Cherokee Cowboy. That's my vote 

Dusty, Yes!!! Thank you! Thank you!!! 

Dan, Thanks!!! Yes, I know how to do that with a noter. My friend prefers chord melody style so she would like to learn to bend strings with her fingers. Bing Futch did an excellent video on this but I can't seem to find it. 

I know Bing Futch posted a video on the old FOTMD site that gives instruction and demonstration on how to bend strings to get those accidentals, in between notes, of a song. I tried searching Youtube and he has lots and lots of videos. If anyone out there can remember the name of his video or provide a link I would be very grateful. I tried searching this site but apparently from what I can see that video did not migrate over to this site? I got a friend who is new to the dulcimer but she is picking up on things very quickly and I would like to send her a video (Bing's or anyone else's) on how to bend strings. I think my friend is going to end up a better dulcimer player than me. She has really taken to the instrument. It makes me happy

If you have a dulcimer made by Walter Messick, I would stick with his recommendation on string gauges. I have one of his. I took the extra melody string off because I was splitting them with my finger. Other than that I've not had a problem with intonation. I do use an electronic tuner and tune each open string to either DAA or DAd. As of this moment it's tuned DAd. 

Great interview Kevin!!! Thanks for sharing the article and thanks for doing what you do!!!

Ramps under snow today 

Did someone mention my favorite topic, feathers? 

I'm not sure about Vimeo as I've not personally uploaded videos to that site. For Youtube you would have to make the video public in order to share it. There is an option for private but I don't think that will work for linking your video on this site for every one to be able to see it.

Try uploading to Youtube or Vimeo. You can then reference the link when you do Add video on this site.

Oh wow. This is a shock. He helped me learn a few things. I will miss him. I'll be saying prayers for his family. I am thankful that his music and posts are here. :(

Nikolas, I've never had a problem with buzzing on my Walter Messick dulcimer. I took off the melody string on the "outside" and have had no difficulty playing chord melody. I noticed you say you have sta tites for tuners. You say you have the tear drop model. I have an hour glass that has geared tuners. I have never had a problem with them. In fact they are very smooth more so than the open geared tuners on my cardboard. I too have a McSpadden and I have to say that Walter's is just as loud as it. They only difference is that I kept the double melody strings on the McSpadden. I also have to say that when I go to jam my Messick, Cabin Creek, is still my go to instrument. If you had buzzing after purchasing his instrument he is more than willing to make good on it and repair it. 

Marg, I was in your place a couple of years ago. I almost didn't purchase my Prichard or any replica for fear of the wood pegs. Rob showed me how to tune wood pegs and took away the fear I had. I think I was more apprehensive in my mind than what the pegs were actually doing. Keep in mind that wood pegs are wood and they'll act like wood. On humid days they'll absorb a bit more moister on dry days they lose a bit. I've never had a problem with sticking. I do have problem with slipping from time to time. When that happens I put a bit of moister on the peg near the hole...and no, I don't use spit (try not to, LOL). It works. The more you play your instrument and learn it the more you will get accustomed to tuning it. Personally, I like to leave my Prichard in DAA because that is what I typically like to play. If you go to jam sessions you may want to invest in a dulcimer with geared tuners so you can switch tuning quickly and with ease. Having said that, the group I play with stays pretty much in DAd . Just a side note, and forgive me Randy, I personally wouldn't sand my pegs. If you are not experienced in wood working you may sand too much off and the pegs will have problems seating. Once you take wood away you can't put it back at least not original. And for those of you with arthritic hands I completely understand why you need geared tuners. 

Brian, that is cool. Thanks for the video!

Happy New Year to all my FOTMD friends. You all are special!!!

Brian, they are beautiful! I'm looking forward to hearing you play them especially the one with the harp 

I forgot to mention that I got the hourglass shaped dulcimer from Walter. It does have the geared tuners. The teardrops he makes have the Grover Sta-Tite metal friction tuners. That might make a difference for some as far as ease of re-tuning. 

I own a Cabin Creek, Walter Messick, dulcimer.  I like the sound of it.  I know everyone's likes can be different. I do know that you can call up Walter and he can play his dulcimers over the phone for you. That's what he did for me. I have to say when I received it and played it for the first time I was not disappointed. It sounded better in person than it did over the phone but it did sound good over the phone. 

My very first dulcimer I purchased is a Cabin Creek made by Walter Messick. I was looking for something that I could make music with, something that was easy to learn to play a song. I did a lot of research and saw recommendations about dulcimers. I remember hearing dulcimer music at Tamarack in WV. I saw some videos on Youtube and was convinced that was the instrument for me. I decided to look for builders in Virginia. I'm not sure how I came across Walter's web site but that's where I landed. I called him up and he played a few over the phone for me. I wanted to order one I saw on his web site. He asked me to wait because he was in the process of making one that had butterflies for sound holes. He said if I didn't like it I could get the other. Well, when it arrived I was amazed at the craftmanship and how beautiful it really was..... a lot better in real life than pictures on a web site. I got the pick and started playing a tune. I was thrilled to be able to play a song right out of of the box so to speak and not having any music training I felt like I accomplished something wonderful. I still own that dulcimer and I wouldn't part with it for anything.  

Thanks Rob!!! I'll search for the other one.

Sounds like a great time! I've got to try to make it out there.

Strumelia, looks like you linked to the old FOTMD Ning site. 

Jan, Carrie Barnes and I wrote up some silly lyrics for Where O Where Are You Tonight, Hee Haw, song. That was

fun. Unfortunately the tune is not public domain but we still had a blast writing up crazy lyrics....at the expense of the Keanes, LOL. Remember that John? 

Sam, you put together a well written response so your brain still seems to be working well. Sometimes I have a problem remembering how a tune goes. It's helpful to me to listen to videos on Youtube or Vimeo or even going to a jam to get the tune in my head. Sometimes I do that a couple of times. That helps me. As my Excel instructor would say, "practice makes better" and she's right. I like how she said practice doesn't make perfect. None of us can get to perfect. I find that when I look at the tab or music and keep practicing it (until I'm just about sick of it, lol) then I really get it in my head. 

Here is a video of my playing the violin uke with one hand while holding the camera in the other:

It went fairly well. As I was progressing on each string and yes, each string had to be tuned, I had to go back and re-tune the previous strings as they loosened up! I tuned them a bit sharp in case they decide to loosen up a bit. Since it hadn't been tuned in over 50 years it seems to sound pretty good for a violin uke 

Here is a picture:

Today is the big day. I try out the bow on the violin uke. I'll be cleaning the strings on the instrument first then wipe them down. I hope the strings are in good shape. Maybe I can get a video. 

Oh yes! Rosin. Got to have that. In fact I received instructions inside my pack of synthetic horse hair on how to prime the hair with rosin before doing it the regular way of sliding the bow strings across the rosin bar. Yep, it's necessary for sure. I can see where waxed dental floss could be a problem...maybe not for teeth but for sure as a bowing implement. 

k0k0peli, looks like one only needs dental floss or fishing line or ribbon to bow a piano,

 k0k0peli, I looked into using a stick to flex and tie horse hair on it but I wanted to do something special for my neighbors. That's why I decided to make a psaltery bow. When I did research on bows for the violin uke and psaltery I did come across instructions for making a simple bow. ( http://dennishavlena.com/psaltery.htm )  I'm not sure how well a Popsicle stick would work as it is very short and I don't think it would be that easy to put string on it without having to cut slots etc. Just my uneducated opinion. Other than the scroll saw (I already had one) I didn't spend that much money making the bow. I already had tung oil, sand paper, fine steel wool and paste wax from a previous project. I didn't spend much on the synthetic hair, rosin, glue and poplar wood. In fact, I purchased an extra piece of poplar wood just in case I messed up. It wasn't expensive at all.