Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

I would rather see August 28 as National Dulcimer Day especially because I would rather see December 8 as Jean's birthday and not overshadowing or overshadowed by another celebration. Although Jean exposed many people to the mountain dulcimer she was so much more than that. She was a promoter of the Ritchie family and southern Appalachian songs as well.  I really think we would do a disservice to her by tying her memory only to the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I like Steve's idea even better. Since it is two days from our wedding anniversary I might remember it. So, Dusty, are you volunteering to set up the Wikipedia entry"

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Not to detract from Jean's fame as a popularizer of the dulcimer, I suggest March 19 as that is the birthdate of James Edward (Uncle Ed) Thomas who built the early hourglass style mountain dulcimer. Didn't Jean's father play one of Thomas's dulcimers?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm glad that you found and shared that photo. Like Dusty I would enjoy hearing him play that instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It's good to know the folks in Spain had a brief exposure to the Appalachian dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I've had several of Dave's student dulcimers and wound up selling them to students who wanted to move beyond a cardboard dulcimer. I have played quite of few of his regular dulcimers and can tell you that they are well built and a delight to play. I have no experience with Ron's dulcimers, but he has a good reputation as a builder.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Two good books on dulcimer history are Ralph Lee Smith's Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions and The Story of the Dulcimer. I suggest doing an internet search for them. Georgia is not known for having a history of mountain dulcimer making or playing. If you just want to know about Georgia, an internet search will provide you will lots of information.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dale had a shop in Pigeon Forge in the 1990s and made hammered and mountain dulcimers. I knew him more as a hammered dulcimer maker. As I recall he did good work and made fine, playable instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John Pledger lives in northwest Georgia and after he retired decided to start building dulcimers. He is a hobbyist who sells his dulcimers through Etsy. Here is a photo of him with two of his dulcimers. This is what it says on his Etsy page: "I am a hobbyist Dulcimer maker from North Georgia. I make one dulcimer at a time and only seven or eight per year. I enjoy playing the Mountain Dulcimer and attending craft shows with them throughout the year. I meet a lot of interesting people who love art and music. The Mountain dulcimer is arguably the easiest of the stringed instruments to play. I am learning old time American mountain music and Celtic/New age tunes. The dulcimer is the instrument for the beginning string student because of its ease and immediate results." He is a member here and you can search for him under members and send him a private message if you have any other questions.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 526b6e483020b.image.jpg - 19KB

Sagebum, the dulcimer is really a four string dulcimer with doubled courses. There are a variety of ways this dulcimer could be tuned; DD aa aa dd, GG, DD, AA, EE ( like a mandolin), etc. It is hard to give you answer on string gauges  without knowing the vibrating string length. For the notes you have, you can just duplicate those strings. If you know the VSL you can use Strothers' string calculator to determine what gauges you need. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Bill, can you provide a photo of the dulcimer? The most important thing is to determine where the the nuts were located. Once that is determined, you can measure from the fret board side of the nut to the middle of the seventh fret. Double that measurement and that should be where the strings contact the bridge. A little fine adjustment may be necessary for better intonation.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Regarding the slot; I wonder if it was an attempt to loosen the top and allow it to vibrate more. I realize that as it flares out and extends over the sides of the dulcimer it would do little to lessen the stiffness of the top.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty is correct about Sunhearth dulcimers. Walt Martin's fine tuners were usually made of ebony and broke easily. I've never heard of Mr. Titus either. That is quite a list of folks you have contacted who have no knowledge of him. You may have already done this, but have you contacted Bob Dylan? I realize that Dylan is 80 years old and it may be difficult to remember back 55 years, but is worth a try.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Very nice. That bocote wood is beautiful. You do good work. Enjoy your dulcimer. I'm sure your friend will cherish the other one you made. Like Ken H., I use a surface sander on figured wood, never a planer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thank you, Linda.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You're welcome Scott. Do share, if you get a reply. I know it is a long shot.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Nitro is west of Charleston heading toward Huntington. It is a small town of around 6,500 people at spans two counties in the western part of central West Virginia. Nitro itself has an interesting history as the place that manufactured gun powder for World War I.  As to Mr. Jennings I know nothing about him. Here is a link to https://w ww.g orbysmusic.com  so you can look for yourself. My guess is that Mr. Jennings made a few dulcimers and put them in the shop on consignment, but maybe some of our West Virginia members know more about him. Perhaps you could call the shop and someone there might know something about him.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I thought of Rod when I did The Friendly Beasts for our Tuesday evening Zoom group video. Even after 11 years I have fond memories of all the conversations I had with Rod.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I enjoyed the video and think it expresses the song very well. Thank you for sharing it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sorry to hear that Dave. No matter how careful we are packing instruments for shipping, shippers will find ways to destroy them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wow, very nice playing. Thanks for sharing.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's a creative design Ken and should do the job you intend it to do. Nice construction. Thanks for sharing.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Eric, I would like to know that as well. I'm just guessing here, but I think he is referring the do re mi as a diatonic scale (seven notes) compared to a chromatic scale. I don't know how chromatic becomes a "European" scale.

Ken

"The dulcimer player sings a sweet song."

I wasn't able to open that link; even after copying and pasting in my browser. Here Is another link which works.

https://tennesseecrossroads.org/mike-clemmer-dulcimers/

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

P.S. I enjoyed your daughter's family at the end of the video. Very talented group there.

That's a beautiful instrument. Does it have the fine tuners between the bridge and end pins? They are small pieces of ebony the string goes through. I have one of the Sunhearth teardrop dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I came across this video of Mike Clemmer. I thought some folks might enjoy watching it. https://www.voanews.com/a/6346682.html

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for the addition Strumelia. I was going to mention that, but I guess I got lost somewhere along the way. That's what happens when you reach three quarters of century.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Your Sunhearth dulcimer made by Walt Martin in Roaring Spring, PA is a great instrument. These instruments were originally meant to be in a 1 - 5 - 5 tuning (DAA or CGG primarily) and using a noter. You might have to lower the action a little if you choose to play chord/melody style.  You should be able to tune up to DAd using  0.010 for the melody strings, a 0.013 for the middle, and 0.020 for the bass. If those are too floppy, you can increase to 0.11 or 0.012, 0.014, and 0.022. Increasing the size of the strings will increase the tension of the peg and if they are friction pegs you may have trouble keeping them in tune.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Great news! I'm looking forward to the new podcasts.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's good news SoR. Glad to hear that some of this discussion was helpful to you. Keep on strumming.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree that we don't really disagree. I was trying to find the appropriate strings for the first tuning he mentioned which was GDD. As I understand the pattern for identifying the notes by letters in the system we use, middle C is designated by a lower case "c".  The octave below that is capital letters. The next octave lower is a capital letter followed by an apostrophe. The octave with middle c is lower case and the next octave above is lower case followed by an apostrophe.In American Standard Pitch Notation notes are designated by letter and octave; middle c being C4.

The original poster wants to tune his dulcimer "up to minor tuning." If that is D minor those notes would be D, F, A. I don't know whether one would tune those strings in the same octave giving a open minor when the dulcimer is strummed. I guess I need a more information and a better knowledge of music theory.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty, if the string VSL is 24 inches and the tuning is the D below middle C, according the the Strothers string calculator the string should be a 0.022. If you were tuning the "d" an octave higher the recommended string is a 0.011 but I think you could use a 0.012. I based my calculation on G and D as I thought that was what the original poster was going for in his question.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

And GDD would be a 0.016 for G and 0.022 for the D strings. String companies market dulcimer string sets mostly for two tunings, DAA and DAd and a VSL of about 26 to 28 inches. Dulcimer players need to learn that if they choose to explore other tunings and VSLs they need to find the right size strings. That's what is good about FOTMD. People can ask questions and folks here help them find the correct information. I trust that has been helpful to you StudentofRhythm.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song. 

Patricia and Wayne, I am sorry to see the Hearts of the Dulcimer podcast ending. I have enjoyed listening to them. Thank you for all your work in producing these and making them available to the dulcimer community. Best wishes for all your future endeavors.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Happy Thanksgiving. Among my many blessings is all my dulcimer friends here. at FOTMD and TTAD. Enjoy the day everyone.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm traveling over the next ten days, so I am away from my files. I'm working from memory here, but his looks like a kit that was offered in the late 1970s. I am going by the shapes of the peg head and the tail piece. Unfortunately I can't look through my files of dulcimer advertisements or old DPNs until after Dec. 4th.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Terry Hennessy died yesterday, November 13, 2021, at his home. He was the builder who made Richard Farina’s dulcimer. He will be missed by family and friends and by many of us in the dulcimer world. My sympathy is offered to all. I was fortunate to be able to examine and strum the dulcimer he made for Richard.  You can read about Terry here .

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sam died just one day after entering a hospice program. He was a good player in addition to being a builder of hammered dulcimers. His work, especially with the group Trapezoid, helped revive interest in the HD. He was a contributor to Dulcimer Players News writing a column on "Technical Dulcimer."

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sorry, Nathina, but I've never heard of it. I will watch this thread to see if you receive an answer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Good point Wally. I really was not criticizing  the design, just wondering about how that was chosen. You explained that. I know nothing about laser cutters. Like I said, it is a great alternative to a cardboard dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

P.S. - Did your wife get her dulcimer kit constructed?