Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

You've got that right John. I tried giving my son-in-law one of the banjos this past weekend, but all he wanted was dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Shelly Stevens has a book  Jamming with the Baritone Dulcimer that tells you how to retune one string on the baritone to play in the key of D with other dulcimers. There is this video from Folkcraft by Mandy Tyner. If you do Facebook, there is a group called Baritone Mountain Dulcimer that you can join. A simple internet search for Baritone dulcimer will turn up lots of links and information. I have a dulcimer I made which has a deep body that I'm thinking of restringing as baritone. If you look at my photo in the Embarrassment of Dulcimers thread it is the dulcimer in front of the blue Lazy Boy on the left side. It has a flat peg head, maple fret board, and Paduk back and sides with a red cedar top.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Strumelia, are three banjos a pox or do I need more?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John, I borrowed that phrase from the collector of another type of musical instrument. If you want to call your group of dulcimers "a loveliness" that's fine with me. I do feel a little embarrassed that I have so many instruments.

Adding to the story of the 24 dulcimers in the photo, I made 14 of them. The other 10 were either purchased by me or a gift. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I don't think I can get to it this week. I will need to arrange things so that the plans make sense to someone other than me. Generally I have a pattern for the head stock and a profile of the instrument. The rest are measurements, length, width, height, and numbers of frets, I did full body tracings of some of the instruments, but they are too large to scan. I would have to make copies of them, probably by hand. Be patient and I will gather together the information for you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Shopdad, my guess is what you really want to build is a zitter or hummel which people often (mistakenly) call scheitholts. There are two zitters in the photo and I have plans for both of them. You are welcome to them if you are interested. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Our son-in-law and two grandsons came to visit yesterday. Our daughter is ill with a cold or seasonal flu so she stayed home. Last night I began showing them my dulcimers. Today we set all of my mountain dulcimers and related instruments in the living room and took a photo. There are 24 instruments in the photo and a least two of them are going home with them. Maybe two more if I can talk both grandsons into taking instruments rather than sharing one with their father.

Front row on floor (l to r): Praetorius scheitholt reproduction, dulcimer in a fiddle case.
Middle row (l to r): Musical Traditions dulcimer, Warren May, a dulcimer I made for our daughter, Dulcimer Factory (the Naylors), a modern Prichard I made, J.E. Thomas #1465 (1931), Prichard reproduction, early Folkcraft for the Vermont years by David Marks, a Backyard cardboard dulcimer, a reproduction zitter, a teardrop with flat peghead, a reproduction zitter, the first dulcimer I ever made.
Top row (l to r): travel dulcimer by Dave Lynch, a Sunhearth teardrop, four teardrop dulcimers, a Blue Lion, Randy Adams box dulcimer, Folkcraft all walnut made by Steve Ash. I plan to make a one page description of each instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Back in 1968 Len and Sue MacEachron started Here Inc. In Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1984 they sold Here Inc. to Gary and Eve Stone who changed the name to Stoney End and moved the business to Red Wing, Minnesota. In 2025, Grady and Nikki O’Gorman acquired the business from the Stones. My experience with the business is mostly from before 1984. The dulcimers and the kits they offered as well as all the other instruments were well constructed. The mountain dulcimers had a pleasant sound. I've had a couple of their instruments from the 1990s pass through my hands and they were good instruments. I think each successive owner tried (and succeeded) in improving the quality of the instruments and the company in general. I would not hesitate to buy one their instruments. The sell instruments from Hobgoblin Music, a UK based folk instrument company.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for sharing that Robin. It was very interesting.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Happy Birthday, John! I know it's a week early, but I'm not taking a chance of forgetting it. Enjoy your new dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

RF or radio frequency interference is caused by unwanted external signals or electrical energy. It can be from items I mentioned below and also by bad shielding in the cable.

My son, a professional musician who plays guitar, uses these in small venues. He is very pleased with them. A major problem with wireless systems is interference from other devices that may be on the same frequency. Older devices are more prone to this than new ones due to the changes by the FCC in frequency usage and allocation.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

First question: Did you have it plugged into your dulcimer before plugging the cable into the amp? Second question: Does the hum also happen without the cable plugged in? Generally there are two reasons for a hum; a ground fault or RF interference. If the amp has a three prong plug and is plugged into a grounded outlet there shouldn't be a hum. If there is a hum, it could be the cable, a ground problem with amps wiring, or RF interference. If it is RF interference look for a florescent light nearby or something with a motor (refrigerator, fan, air conditioner, etc.) If that is the case try moving the amplifier away from that source of interference. This can also happen if one of those items is plugged into the same outlet or circuit as the amp.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a new song."

Sorry, John, I've never seen or heard of a pick like the one you described. I'm looking forward to seeing what others have to say.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wally, thanks for the link on Pennsylvania Dutch - German - American and American English Dialects. I noted the mention of C. Richard Beam's The Comprehensive Pennsylvania German Dictionary. A big problem in studying that language had been the lack of common spelling of words among the various groups of PA Dutch. A friend of mine spent a few years after retirement teaching PA German to the English (the term the Amish use for non-Amish folks) in our community. Beam was an excellent and helpful resource as my friend prepared a textbook for his course. I never mastered the language but can sometimes pick up on some words my Amish neighbors use.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I guess that depends on how you define "Pennsylvania Dutch." As I understand it from a sociological point of view, Pennsylvania Dutch applied to people of Germanic origin while the Amish were primarily Swiss who had moved to Holland before emigrating to the United States. Dutch, as applied to Pennsylvania Germans is a mispronunciation and spelling of Deutsch. An excellent book on this is Amish Society by John Hostetler (now in a fourth edition). Another good source of information on the Amish is Donald B. Kraybill. We have some Mennonites in our area who are now playing the mountain dulcimer. The Amish here in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, still do not permit the playing of musical instruments

The Germans who moved into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia were mostly Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed. There were Germans in North Carolina as well in two primary areas; along the east coast and in western NC. It appears that former came directly from Germany and the latter were part of the migration down the Great Wagon Road. A theory as to the origin of the mountain dulcimer is that the zitter played by Germans wasn't quite suitable to the musical repertoire of the Scots. A raised fret board seemed to solve that problem. Also mounting the zitter on top of a larger box amplified the sound of the instrument. Eventually the shape of box evolved into a more pleasing shape, either single bout or double bout. All of this is just speculation.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You raise an interesting question for which I have no answer. Perhaps the Pennsylvania Dutch who emigrated to Ontario were members of the plain folk (Amish and conservative Mennonites) who prohibited the playing of musical instruments. Although there is documentation of a least one Mennonite who made zitters, playing the instrument seems to be left the church people (Lutherans, Moravian, and Reformed). Some of my ancestors are of Palatine German descent and they came to the United States through Canada. None of them played the zitter as far as I know. At least there weren't any handed down through the family.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Razyn's article is well worth reading. He has excellent photographs of the instrument, but the most interesting part is the narrative. It is an excellent article on the some of the history of the mountain dulcimer. If you have a copy of the February, 2026 issue of DPN I encourage you to read it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I like John's idea of putting the dulcimer outside in the sun. Perhaps an hour or two each day it is nice out until the odor dissipates, As for the case, I'd go with a new one. You'll probably spend more time and money trying to rid the case of the smell and perhaps never achieve that goal.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty, I think you make a very good point about festivals and clubs. My experience is that people go to and get together to play music. They aren't interested in attending a lecture. One way I have used to sneak in dulcimer history is to set up a display in the vendors' area at festivals.

Best wishes on your move to new venue. Have fun introducing non-members to our wonderful instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I just read this paper the yesterday. Shopdad, you might be interested in photo #4 in the paper.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Identifying_popular_musical_instruments.pdf - 1.7MB

As far as instrument history goes I have read books on guitar, banjo, autoharp, hammered dulcimer, and ukulele history. I've read books about C.F. Martin & Company, the Gibson company (guitar, banjo, mandolin), Fender, and a few others. I have a book on the history of the autoharp and read articles about the history of this instrument. I have read Paul Giffords book on the hammered dulcimer. I've read several books on banjo history including That Half Barbaric Twang. And now that I think about it I've also delved into the histories of violin making and pipe organ building. Just chalk it up to my curiosity about the instruments I play and encounter. BTW, I don't play the violin (although I took lessons in grade school) and I don't play the pipe organ or any keyboard instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

On another website, The Traditional Appalachian Dulcimore link , a few folks were wondering if any dulcimer clubs or groups spend any time looking at the history of the Appalachian dulcimer or traditional styles of playing and the early repertoire of players. A question that was asked is should clubs and festivals be encouraged to include dulcimer history and traditions in their gatherings? As someone who became interested in the mountain dulcimer when I was 10 or 11 years old, having heard Jean Ritchie play on a radio program, I've known about them for almost 70 years of my life. I really didn't get involved until after I finished graduate school and made my first dulcimer in 1974. It wasn't until the early 1990s that I began going to some dulcimer festivals and finding others with whom to play, although I did have single playing partners during the late 70s and early 80s. During that time I learned to play in the current popular tunings and popular repertoire of the festivals and clubs. But the sound of the older players kept drawing me back to the early styles of playing and their tunes. This made me want to learn more about the history of the instrument and its antecedents. Over the years I've examined predecessor instruments, built reproductions, and given talks/demonstrations/workshops at some clubs, festivals, and historical societies. These have always drawn more interest at historical societies than at dulcimer festivals and clubs.

So, I'll ask two questions. Is there any interest within the mountain dulcimer community in learning the history and traditions of the instrument? Should clubs and festivals be encouraged to provide this information to their participants?

I look forward to seeing what everyone here thinks.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for the story Peter. I enjoyed it. You never know where dulcimer might appear.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

What John said!

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Still waiting for that party!

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Strings to get are determined by the tuning you want to use and the vibrating string length (VSL). To determine the VSL measure from the fret board side of the nut to where the string touches the bridge. It could be the face of the bridge that faces toward the peg head or if the bridge is triangular the peak of the triangle. Using the string chart Richard suggested you can find the correct size strings. The chart tends to give a little lighter gauge string so you can go to a 0.011 or 0.012 if it suggests at 0.010. I prefer to buy single loop end strings and make up my own sets rather that buy prepackaged sets. My guess is that you could get away with using the D'Addario EJ64 set which are three 0.012 and one 0.022 bass string. This set works with VSLs from 26" to 28 1/4 inches for DAA tuning.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

What style of playing are you planning to start with? These dulcimers are most suitable for noter or finger dancing style and playing in a 1 - 5 -  5 tuning (DAA, CGG, etc.). This is because neither dulcimer has a 6 1/2 fret. If you want to play chord/melody style, I would look into have a 6 1/2 fret installed on both dulcimers. The suggestion from removing strings to make the 6 string dulcimer into a 3 string dulcimer seems fine, but the spacing between strings will be a little odd. Eventually you may want to looking into have a new nut and bridge made. Matt's suggestion regarding brads 0n the 2nd dulcimer is good. I would consider filling in the holes and making new ones. I often use #2 round head wood screws 1/2 in. to 3/4 inch long instead of brads. Best wishes on your project.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's a beautiful dulcimer Noah. It sounds very nice. I bet it really sings when it isn't played on top of a blanket. I do have one question. Shouldn't the tuning machines be placed so that the tension of the strings pulls the shaft attached to the string is pulled toward the worm gear from the tuning knob? It seems from the photo they are mounted so that the string shaft will eventually pull the gears apart. This is what I was told when I started building dulcimers. Of course I'm not looking at a side view of the peg head so I may not be seeing correctly.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dolly was a genuine and generous person true to her roots in eastern Tennessee. Obviously her talent and outlook on life carried her far in her 80 years. My sympathy goes out to her family and friends. She will be missed. And another person from my birth year departs this Earth too soon.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Robin. We hope to if she is over a bout with shingles. Just started on Tuesday.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm going to take a guess that the dulcimer is cherry, represented by the "C" is CSH. The overlay on the fret board appears to be walnut or wenge. It was made by Steve Ash in 2014. At that time this dulcimer would not have sold for more than $500.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Wally. I've been to Bolt's Fork which today is only a couple of houses. If memory serves me correctly I think Prichard was the post master at Bolt's Fork when there was a post office there. It isn't all that far from Huntington although across the river. Starting with C.N.'s obituary and moving backward through time may be the best procedure. I would look for advertisements, but there might be an article about C.N. somewhere in there.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Shopdad.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I don't know if I'll post a video this year as it is the day before our 57th wedding anniversary. Since the anniversary is on Sunday we are moving the celebration up a day.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Perhaps the hourglass shape has sold well because it is more pleasing to the eye than other shapes. My experience as a builder is that it takes a little more effort to make hourglass shaped dulcimers than rectangular or single bout dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Like John, I am not aware of Prichard using a push cart or even traveling to sell his "American" dulcimer. He may have used advertising in newspapers or in advertising papers like his "Cricket." As far as know there is no evidence of how he sold his dulcimers. Charles Hammack may have been another WV maker. He dates from 1848 - 1885. David Bennett reports about him in "Today In Dulcimer History." Different places report him as an owner of an hour glass dulcimer and others a the maker as well. But, I digress. The speculation I've heard and read about the origin of the hourglass shape is that builders were trying to emulate the shape of a fiddle. Unfortunately the origin of the hourglass shaped dulcimer is lost in the mists of Appalachian dulcimer history. No maker ever claimed that they had "invented" the shape. It us arose somewhere, possibly Kentucky. and was copied by others.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It depends on the VSL of the instrument and the tuning. Like Dan I usually tune them around CGG. Gauges run from 0.010 up to 0.020. I buy spools of music wire in the gauges I need and make my own loop end strings. This is needed especially for my Praetorius scheitholt which has a VSL longer than most factory made strings.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The general rule of humidity is that if you are comfortable, your instruments are comfortable. If the humidity is low, the wood will lose moisture and shrink. The place you would notice this the most is one the fret board as the ends of the frets will project out from the fret board. I experience this sometimes in central Pennsylvania and know it is time to provide more humidity. I usually keep all my dulcimers and other instruments in their cases year round. Even with a large console humidifier I can't get the humidity above about 35% in the winter. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

There are many lessons available online, but it depends upon what you want to do. Do you want a one-on-one lesson  with Zoom or FaceTime? Do you just want video lessons where you can watch, play along, etc. Some folks that came to mind are Steve Eulberg, Mandy Tyner, Stephen Seifert, Bing Futch, Brett Ridgeway. There are many, many others. Internet searches will bring up many websites and contacts. If you the style of play you want to try, look for an instructor that teaches that style. If you just want beginning lesson look for someone who starts with the very basics, like starting with the string side up while on your lap. Sorry I'm not being very specific. It's just that there are so many instructors out there. Also, if you are near a dulcimer festival, many offer beginner workshops.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."