Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

Sound posts were used by "Uncle Ed" Thomas and Charles N. Prichard in their dulcimers. Thomas had two sound posts; one about the 3rd fret and one about the 10th fret. Prichard had one sound post in the center of the fretboard. A friend made a reproduction of the Prichard dulcimer and when I asked him if he put in a sound post, he replied that he hadn't. He did on the next one he built and noticed an increase in the volume of the dulcimer. I put one in a dulcimer I recently built. People have commented on how nice it sounds, but I can't say for sure it was because of the addition of the sound post. Matt is correct. If you want more volume from a mountain dulcimer, add a possum board.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Indeed, it is a small world. You did a nice job figuring out what you needed to do. It looks like a very nice instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

If you can contact the folks at the luthiery in Hindman, Ky, they may be able to help you. I am sure that they have seen and handled many Amburgey dulcimers. Do a google search for  Hindman, KY and Doug Naselroad. The Appalachian Artisan Center and the Hindman Settlement School are other things to look for. Hope this helps you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Marg, I've seen explanations for the differing directions of the hearts, but darned if I can remember them. Most of the early dulcimers had the hearts with the bottom pointing to the left. One theory for the change is that they looked better hanging on a wall with the hearts pointing down.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Marg, I certainly do. This photo was taken by John Huron shortly after he finished restoring the dulcimer. Somewhere I have a video of Joe Collins playing it. I'll see if I can find it. There are photos of it from the first Berea gathering as well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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Nina, the 1,500 number is not absolute. It is based on a guess that he made some dulcimers before he started numbering them. I'm not saying that I have the last one that he made, but a higher number has not surfaced yet. Thomas was helpful in moving the mountain dulcimer out of the mountains. Women who worked at the settlement schools purchased instruments and gave them to friends and/or relatives in New England. It is reported that he sent one to Eleanor Roosevelt and the King of England. I'm not sure that either of those reports has been verified.

Marg, some information needs to be updated. I own a J.E. Thomas dulcimer, #1465 dated February,1931.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thank you Susie and Robin. I've never had a 12 fret guitar and didn't want another dreadnaught. This one is based on the Martin 00 design. It will be a steel string guitar. I'll post photos when I finish it and may play a few chords so you can hear how it sounds.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Back in 2015 I asked my luthier friend if he would help me build a guitar. He agreed and I started work. Over the last four years there have been many interruptions due to illness, travel, and my friend remodeling his house and using his shop for storage space. I've been back at it recently and today we set the place for the bridge and saddle. Here are three photos of where I am on this project. After taking the photos I took the neck off and pore filled the neck. I also did a final sanding on the body before it enters the spray booth later this week or early next week. The body will be nitrocellulose lacquer while the neck will be finished with Tru-oil. As you can see more frets need to be added to the fret board which will happen when the neck is permanently attached to the body. While all this is going on I am restoring two PA German zitters and continuing to build a couple of dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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What a wonderful song which is performed well. Thanks for posting it here Robin.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well Happy Anniversary to the Heart of the Dulcimer Podcast. I enjoy listening to the podcasts.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I had learned of David's death on FaceBook. His passing leaves a large hole in the folk music world. Salt, I do remember Jose Greco and Arthur Rubinstein. Both were wonderful performers in their own right.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Way to go, Glen!

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Yes, Rain Dog, the new site began on January 13, 2020. It is starting to be populated by former members and new folks.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Greg. I knew that at least one of those fellows did that.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I remember a builder who made fine tuners out of small trapezoidal shaped blocks of ebony. I'm not sure if it was Walt Martin, Keith Young, George Orthey, or someone else. They worked very well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Like KenH, I've never heard of him and agree that you have a very nice looking dulcimer. Working for Huss and Dalton he should have good experience in instrument building.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Glad to hear that playing one instrument is helping you play the other. When I first started playing guitar I did stretching exercises for my left hand to reach some of the chords. The span of my left hand from tip of thumb to to of pinky when spread to its widest is greater than on my right hand. After you play for some time, I am sure you will notice this difference as well. Have fun learning your instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with the others; a job well done. Thanks for sharing this delightful performance.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, Dusty. I enjoyed the video and was impressed that the group took the songs at a nice even pace (slowly).

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with Skip that it may be a problem with the slot in the nut, but also it could be a problem with the saddle/bridge as well. You may need to fill the slots and recut the slots for that one string.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I've used a "D" tuning on my banjo and played the melody on one of the D strings using the rest of the strings as drones. It is not ideal, but works.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You chose RVW's Fantasia on Greensleeves as an example of what you would like to do. A fantasia often involves playing with a "theme" or phrase of music in several different styles. It tends to be highly improvisational. You really need to be very familiar with and comfortable with the tune before you start improvising on it. One of my favorites is Seven Variations on God Save the King.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Great to hear that you have the McSpadden. Enjoy the dulcimer. I'm sure you will have fun playing it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Definitely over.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I found the Nature Coast Dulcimer Works site. That repair looks very similar to the one I did. That's cool having a Diamond dulcimer with f-holes. I don't think they made a lot of them like that. Enjoy your dulcimer. Lucky, Louise, and the crew were pioneers in the revival era of dulcimer building.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

No, I'm not. I'm In central Pennsylvania. The Diamond I repaired was a six-string dulcimer. Talk about a long peg head. Here is a photo of the repaired dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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I'm pretty sure that Lucky used a floating bridge. I just checked a photo of a Diamond dulcimer I repaired, the peg head was broken off, and it looks like a floating bridge. If I go into my shop records I could confirm that, but I'm too lazy this afternoon to head down to the basement.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Angelina, Lucky made his dulcimers with a long vibrating string length making them perfect for noter/drone style playing. You can check, but I think the length is about 29 inches. I think he originally tuned them to CGG and later used DAA. Of course, with the proper strings you can  tune to DAd.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

As many have mentioned the Hindman and Berea gatherings have brought many of us together. It is a festivals that I met many of the folks from FOTMD or the dearly departed Everything Dulcimer site. I think the number of members I've met in person is over twenty. I know it is getting too high for me to count on all my fingers and toes.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

In DAA you have three notes below the starting note of the scale. In DAd you have to grab those notes on the middle string. Although no one know who originated the double melody string, we suppose it was to increase the melody line of a tune. DAd makes it easy to play tunes across the fretboard rather than in the linear pattern of DAA. If you play noter/drone style you still have the same drone notes in both tunings.

We don't have dumb questions here. We ask questions to learn and grow. There is nothing dumb about that. Please feel to ask questions for which you do not have answers. We do our best to answer them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I forgot to answer your other questions. I am not sure to which of Mel Bays books your are referring to in you question. Some of the Mel Bay books offer both DAA and DAd tunings. These being the most popular tunings. Other books also include DAc and other tunings. Currently, DAd is the default tuning for most dulcimer festivals and clubs, although folk are beginning to discover and appreciate DAA and other tunings.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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."

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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."