Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

People tend to forget that for a good long time McSpadden dulcimers were made from laminated wood. It was used primarily in the back and sides. The reason the David Schnaufer model was discontinued is that the laminated cherry wood that he specified for the back and sides was no longer available. An advantage of laminated wood is that it is more stable than solid wood. A disadvantage is that it can be heavier than the same amount of solid wood depending upon variations in thickness.

I sometimes build a dulcimer with a spruce or cedar top, not for reasons of sound, but because I like the contrast in the woods; a light top and and a dark bottom.

Over the years I've made some very nice sounding instruments for low quality wood and some real clunkers from very nice wood. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Marg, I can't tell from the photos. Are all six guitar strings the same gauge (thickness)? I am guess that the tuners for those strings have the tuning knobs below the peg head. It looks to me like there are two sets of three strings down the center. I am puzzled as to why the two dulcimer fret boards face in the same direction. Are both tuned the same? Is one equal string spacing and the other with a double melody string? I am having trouble understanding the purpose of this design.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

And that's not all Leo, 200 hammered dulcimers, one guitar, and various other instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the death of my friend, Dr. George Orthey. During his lifetime he built over 1,500 dulcimers and 1,500 autoharps. An article about George appeared in Dulcimer Players News, Vol. 13, No. 1, Winter, 1987.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I hope the rolling black outs don't cause your AC to go out or do you have a back up generator. Our son and his family live way south of you in Van Nuys and they've been having this heat as well. Stay cool inside and play dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Guitars and banjos need truss rods to stabilize the neck because of the pressure from the strings. On most dulcimers the strings are not anchored to the neck but to the peg head and the tail piece With a fret board spanning the length of the sound box, it acts as a truss rod preventing the dulcimer from warping by pulling up at either end. I have a dulcimer I built 46 years ago which has a cantilevered fret board. To keep the fret board from warping, I made it out of three pieces of wood glued together. It is still flat. Unless there is pressure from the strings or the wood used for construction was not well seasoned you should not have any warping on a mountain dulcimer. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Robin. Randy is a very patient teacher whether with children or adults.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hello, Gary, I'm glad you are getting back in to playing your dulcimer. I can't really add to what KenH and John have said. Just sit down and play as often as you can. Enjoy.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I've switched from Pegheds to Wittner geared tuners. I think the tuning is a little more precise. You would be in big trouble if you cut the button off as the gears are in the button rather than the shaft.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The wood appears to be a type of mahogany used by many builders of inexpensive dulcimers in the late 1960s and 1970s. I can't tell if the top and back are plywood, but I suspect that the sides are. If the peg head and fret board are a single piece of wood the that is mahogany. The side view of with pegs definitely shows a piece of mahogany.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Jergen, if you mean that the thickness is not given in millimeters, you are correct. Here is the website describing the three gauges of the picks: thin, medium, and thick.  Herdim Picks

I'm not sure, but I think the points have more to do with stiffness, rather than thickness, with I being the least stiff and III being the stiffest. As I noted below, people have measured the thickness of the pick and points, but the measurements vary widely.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thank you, Dusty.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well, I finally finish the restoration of a Pennsylvania German zitter. I purchased two of them back in the Fall of 2019. The other one was easier to restore as I just had to repair a few cracks and reglue some joints. The top on the one I just finished was beyond repair and I had to make a new top. Here is the instrument.

Ken,

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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I may have to adjust my guess of the age of this instrument as it has no 6 1/2 fret that I can see. If someone were going for a traditional dulcimore, I understand leaving out that fret, but since at least the mid 1970s the 6 1/2 has been basically standard.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I have no idea who made that dulcimer. I doubt that the peg head and tailpiece are carved. It looks like a simple cut with a band saw. From the look of the tuning pegs, it would guess it was made within the last 20 years or so.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dictum, the company in Germany who makes the Herdim picks, says that they began making them in the 1960s for guitar players and developed by Gunther Dick. There are three gauges of picks; yellow, thin; red, medium; and blue, thick. On each pick there are three points: I is thin, II is medium, and III is thick. Folks have measured the various thickness of points on each pick, but the measurements vary depending upon who does the measuring. I use the blue pick and mostly play with I point.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Here is a link to the issue of DPN in which my article on Everything Dulcimer appears. It is on page 33.

https://issuu.com/dulcimerplayersnewsinc/docs/120823190208-24b1ef20f89d4e1e9cbb6004cdabb332

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I thought I had posted a response to Lisa's request for the exact year ED started. It was 2002. Bruce began running some tests as he built the website starting in January and went online full time in March 2002. I think KenH joined on March 15 and I I joined on March 18. I wrote a short article on Everything Dulcimer for Dulcimer Players News. I'll have to search for that article. I did some early testing of the site Bruce and he asked me to be a moderator. When Bruce was at sea Ron Zuckerman pretty much ran the website and I helped with some of the work. Now help me out, Did I respond to this request in some other discussion?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I did read your post about Jason, but did not realize that Steve and Dan had a played a role in ED. I know Ron Zuckerman did quite a bit of work with the ED website.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with Ken Hulme as I joined ED just after he did. Bruce called me and we did some testing of ED together. I don't remember any Jason involved in the origin of the website.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I continue to check in to ED every day and make comments there when appropriate. I also tell people to check it out. It is important to have as many resources as possible to promote the mountain dulcimer and encourage people to play it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Indeed, it is not the old ED site. I was a moderator on that site and know the frustrations Bruce Ford experienced keeping it a safe place to discuss all things dulcimer. While he was at sea, he gave me and another person administration rights. I was overwhelmed by how much time it took to eliminate spurious material and offensive members. After he retired from the Navy and started his own business, he just did not have the time to put into ED anymore. Rather than turn it over to someone else, Bruce decided to retire the site. At least, that is how I understand it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

One thing that the original ED site had early on was a chat room which allowed a few of us to get to know each other. Those chats helped trigger discussions and responses on the main site. That is one of the nice things here as well, the chat room. Not a lot of folks use it, but we have a group of regulars on early in the morning (EDT) and sometimes in the evenings. I don't get in to the chat often as I'm not an early riser. Like my wife says, "You don't wake up until 10 p.m." I'm a night owl.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm curious about how folks here have joined or used the new ED site. There does not seem to be many folks participating there and I wonder why? Could it be that the administrator remains anonymous creating a less friendly and personable atmosphere? Bruce Ford, the creator of the original ED, participated using his name and we knew a little bit about him. The same is true of Lisa here and Bobby at The Traditional Mountain Dulcimore site. Even at Discovering Dulcimers on Facebook some of us know the originator, Maria, and Wayne Anderson who maintains the page. What do the rest of you think?

That's a really nice looking Fender Strat. The Champion 20 is great amp. Here is a photo of guitar I built. I use it with a Fender Mustang LT 25.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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LisavB, I'm glad to hear your are using your stay-home time well. I'd love to see your pick Fender Strat. Last summer I built a Fender Strat look alike from a kit. I painted it emerald green. It is my first and only electric guitar. I bought a cool little Fender amp to go with it. Haven't tried cutting my own hair yet, but that may be in the future.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm not a big fan of the single wooden peg as a string anchor. I think wrapping all the strings around it looks ugly. Just my opinion. I use brass coated brads which I install in a line, either in a horizontal line or on a slant. I generally cut the heads off the brads so that I can use either loop or ball end strings. I like having a separate anchor for each string.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I first met Maddie when both of us worked in Shenandoah National Park. I can't remember if we first met in 1971 or 1973.  Occasionally my wife and I would drive from our location at Loft Mountain to see and hear Maddie perform at Skyland. This was in her pre-mountain dulcimer days. She played guitar and (I think) was just beginning to play hammered dulcimer. We had some good times in the park, but lost track of each other after my wife and I finished our stint at Shenandoah in 1973. A few years later we reacquainted, when we saw she was presenting a concert in our area. By then she was playing mountain dulcimer and I had begun building them. Over the years our paths crossed a few times and I wound up submitting an article to DPN which led to my doing a few more on dulcimer builders. When Maddie and Ralph began mountain dulcimer week at Shenandoah University, I signed up. This led to my running sound for all the concerts and helping out by making copies for the workshop leaders. I also did a few workshops on dulcimer maintenance. All of this was at Maddie's urging ( she would not take "no" as an answer). She even managed to get me on stage to play with other workshop leaders. I must say that she was very good about getting me out of my comfort zone. She was always so positive and encouraging. Even though we did not see each other often, I will miss Maddie and our friendship.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I, too, live in a rural area. All our dulcimer activities are cancelled because the nursing homes where we usually play are not allowing visitors. Also, a community Lenten service were to play at was cancelled. So I just plan to stay at home, play music, and work in the workshop. I have a PA German zitter to repair and a few instruments I hope to build. I should keep fairly busy. Oh, and I have some writing to do. The more I think about, the busier I will be.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Yes, a Folkcraft, but I don't think it is a kit. The kits did not have that type of peg head.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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."