Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

As I think was mentioned before you started this thread, you will not have a doubled melody string unless you want to rework the nut and bridge on your guitar. If you choose to do a three string configuration, take off the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings. You will need to restring your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings. The bass D string (in either DAA or DAd) should be a wound 0.022 or 0.023. The middle string would be a plain steel 0.014. If tuning to DAA, the middle and first string (melody) are the same gauge. The first (melody) string for DAd tuning is a plain steel could be 0.011 or 0.012. You may need to modify the slots in the guitar nut to fit the these string sizes. Another possibility would be to buy and inexpensive guitar nut, slot it yourself, and run your strings down the center of the fretboard. Also, you will not be playing a traditional diatonic dulcimer by doing the this. The guitar fretboard is fretted for chromatic playing.

You did not say what style of dulcimer playing you want to do, but if you are going to play a traditional diatonic dulcimer, trying to learn on the chromatic fretboard may cause you fits when moving to the diatonic fretboard.

Best wishes for your project. Let us know if you have more questions.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Not being a good archivist, I did not write down the years of these three pages from the Sears catalog. The other attachment is a similar dulcimers marketed by Fretted Industries. Note that the Fretted Industries dulcimers have a rectangular end to their scrolls.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 Scan 6.jpeg - 530KB

Very nice John. Happy Birthday again.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You can also order the proper set of strings from The Dulcimer Shoppe, home of McSpadden dulcimers. For your T34 you will need loop end strings. I think the price is $5.50 plus $3.00 shipping. When I looked at JustStrings the 0.023 wound strings appear to come only in a pack of 5 for $10.55. The 0.010 and 0.014 are $3.62 each for a pack of 12 strings. You need to look under Bulk strings for these.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's good news! I hope your lumberjacks are in there. Best wishes.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I doubt that you will find any lumberjacks made by Keith Young available anymore. If you do an internet search for "Limberjack" there a lots of sites that pop up. There are many folks on Etsy that sell them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

My objection is that "scheitholt" refers only to a very small group of instruments in a rather narrow geographical region. Henry Mercer, it seems, discovered the illustration of the scheitholt in the Syntagma and applied the label to the instrument he had in front of him without further research. Within the Pennsylvania German communities where the instrument was found, the term "scheitholt" is unknown. People referred to instrument as a "zitter" or in modern language "zither." In Germany today most of these instruments are called hummels or hommels. When I speak of these instruments, I call them Pennsylvania German zitters. I think this is a more accurate label/description of what we find in the US.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's Ken. It is the foibles of traveling. For some reason I wasn't getting the whole discussion on my phone. Now that I'm back on the computer I see those photos. The terminology being used is what confused me. I consider the fret board to be what was once the "scheitholt-on-a-box" feature of the mountain dulcimer. Truthfully, I would like to get away from the "scheitholt" terminology all together, but I realize I am fighting a losing battle there.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I am confused by this conversation. Is there any possibility of some photos?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

How about adding a 12 days of Christmas to the end of Advent.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song,'

I have one of Randy's dulcimers and I can attest to the fact that the wood (toothpick) frets hold up under noter playing.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Okay, Ariane. I am thinking of recording "O Lord, How Shall I Meet You." The tune is Wie Soll Ich Dich Empfangen in our Lutheran Hymnal.

I can record it in Garageband and then up it to Soundcloud.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I would like to participate. Are you compiling a list of Advent hymns to avoid duplication or do we just choose what we want to play and email you the recording?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Very nice John. 

The only problem I see with the ukulele tuners or banjo tuners is that the peg head wall is rather thin. I think you will need to use a shim of some sort to be able to affix the tuners properly.]

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I, too, like your second option. Another, although I think it might require more work, would be to rout out a new channel for the saddle. It looks like you have plenty of material to work with. The saddle would have to be fairly tall.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Victoria, I am not sure what you were seeing when you tried to upload a photo. If you are on your page under your name and you click on the Photo box you see a page that says Create a Gallery. Click on the plus sign, name your gallery, and then choose a photo file. I find it easiest to have the photo file on my desktop and choose the file from there. I can't choose a file from my photo program. That just doesn't work for me. I am using a MacBook Pro, but I suspect it may work similarly with a Windows machine. Please ask more specific questions if this does not help you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thank you Ballad Gal. Here is a link in case you or anyone else is interested: 

Norulak Screen Printing

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song.

Lisa, the pick is a new collar stay. It was never in a shirt. A local store had boxes of them for $3 for about 30 stays and collar extenders. The noter is the handle of a foam brush. I just cut off the foam when it was too hard to accept more paint.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Here is my Play Music on the Porch Day Photo. I have one with me playing guitar as well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 IMG_3924.JPG - 113KB

That's wonderful. What a great find. Enjoy.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Chet wrote a book on dulcimer building and provided the pattern that is the shape of that dulcimer. It is possible it was made by someone using Chet's book.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I've invited folks to stop by anytime between 2 and 5 p.m. to play a tune fr two or more. I expect some group playing, some solos, and other combinations.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Watco is good. I just finished a guitar neck with Birchwood Casey's Tru-oil gun stock finish. It is easy to apply and makes a really great finish. I have nothing against oil. I just don't like to get my fingers messy. HaHa.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm coming late to the party. I can't tell from the photos, but it looks like your fret board is unfitted. This gives you some latitude in VSL. Like KenH, I would add an end piece to the body and fret board and anchor the strings to it. I've used #2 three quarter inch (or half inch) round head wood screws as anchors for loop end strings. They work very well. Adding the end piece and strings in this way will keep the fret board from bowing up.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

A finish I like to use is a satin finish lacquer. I use a rattle-can spray (Deft), but I think any spray can lacquer would work well. The instrument in my hands in my avatar has a sprayed satin lacquer finish.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Yeah, I've never experienced that before, but it is a cheap import a friend picked up at the thrift store. I adjusted the action and put on new strings.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John, I sprayed a little silcone along both side edges, but it is still holding on there. In fact, I have to put on leather work gloves and push from the bridge side of the tailpiece to tail end of the mandolin to get it off. It's not going to slide off. I can assure you of that.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You pull the top piece off. Pull it away by pulling toward the bent end which is where it attached to the instrument. You may need to turn it over and spray a little lubricant along the edges to help it out. It is meant to be tight so it does not fall off the instrument. That type of tail piece is typical of mandolins. If you need me to, I can run down to my shop and photograph one on a mandolin that I've had in for some work. I'll pull it off and show you what it looks. Let me know quickly as I'll be away Saturday and Sunday.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The work to do doesn't seem too bad. I'd try to clean the top, back, and sides before doing any sanding. Of course I would take all the strings off before doing this. Make sure you keep a list of the gauges of all the strings in order: from high to low or low to high whichever youosr prefer. After clean up you can decide whether you need to sand the finish and refinish the instrument. You will need to see if the bridge and need any work. Although it is hard for me to see, I would probably add a brass rod all the edge of Kantele just under the top edge along the side to keep the strings from eating into the top. Keep us posted on your progress.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Assuming a standard size guitar with around a 25" VSL, the bass "E" string is anywhere from 0.046 to 0.056. The Blue Lion bass dulcimer I play in our dulcimer group has a 27.5 inch VSL. The string gauges are 0,024, 0.028, 0.032, 0.052. All of them are bronze wound. In a set of medium guitar strings, the 4th string (D) is usually around 0.035. If you use that as your "melody" string, you can size the middle and bass appropriately.

Hope this helps.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Ken, for that explanation of the string anchor photo. I must have been tired last night as I looked at it. I could not figure out why there would be vertical grain wood in the "nut" by the anchor pins. Now I see that is the top and the strings anchor on the side of the instrument. Duh. I just couldn't see that when I first looked at it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I am somewhat familiar with the Kantele as well as the Kalevala having graduated from Suomi (Finland) college.  I, too, would like to see a photos of the whole instrument front and back. Some things to consider are whether the tuners work smoothly. After 20 years some may be stuck in place or no longer hold when tuned to pitch. These are easily resolved problems. Make sure all the joints are secure. If not, you will need to glue them. Do you know who made your Kantele? If it has a finish on it, you can test to see what type of finish it is. If it is lacquer you should be able to put a new coat or two over it. It could be shellac. Or it could be some type of varnish. You may need to sand it down to bare wood, but I would avoid that if I could as I don't like sanding. If you like to sand, go for it. It looked like some of the dents could be raised using moisture and a hot iron. Looking back at your photos, I do not understand what is happening in the first photo with the string anchors. What are the strings going over in the photo? Also, if you want to you can replace the tuning pins with shiny new ones.

Just a few thoughts. I hope some of them are helpful.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

At one time I had one of their dulcimers, but I couldn't find a photo of it in my files. If I recall correctly it had a triangular shaped bridge and was made of walnut or rosewood. I'll try and do some more searching to see if can find a photo.

Okay, I was wrong. From the photos I found on the internet the bridge was rectangular or square in profile rather than triangular. It looks like the bridge matched the wood of the fretboard.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

69

I agree, John. Looks like a Hughes Church dulcimer. If it came in to my shop I would recommend a new nut and bridge.

Ken

"The dulcimer sins a sweet song."

Along with others, I am happy to answer any questions you have about building dulcimers, etc. I started building in 1974 but only as a hobby. I've sold a few over the years, Right now I'm more in to making reproductions of old dulcimers and Pennsylvania German zitters.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I purchase bone for guitar nuts and saddles from Stewart-MacDonald. Dan's eBay source looks good too. A lot depends on the size of bone you need for the dulcimer nut and bridge and how much you are will to work it down. Some folks don't like the odor created when cutting, filing, and sawing bone. If you really want to start from scratch you can probably get a beef bone from the butcher at the grocery store. You'll need to boil the meat off and then let it dry. To get a nice white color you will need to bleach it as well. Then you will have to cut it to size and shape it. Have fun however you choose to tackle this project.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sounds like a nice birthday present. I'm sure it can drown out a dulcimer, but please don't do that. Enjoy your accordion.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I have a Martin guitar with a Richlite fretboard. I think it is a little faster than the ebony fretboard I have on my other Martin. Taylor is involved with planting ebony trees. They have their own plantation of ebony and (I think) subcontract the harvesting and processing of the ebony.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."