Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

Micarta has been around for a long time. It was developed by George Westinghouse around 1910. You see it used in knife handles because it comes in a great variety of colors and textures. Micarta has been used to make dulcimer nuts and bridges for years. As natural materials become scarce, I think we need to open ourselves to using other materials for instrument making. I was skeptical of doing this for a long time until I purchased a Martin guitar made of HPL (high pressure laminates). That turned me in to a believer. I would not hesitate to use Micarta for a fret board.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Welcome back! Glad you are beginning to play music again. Keep at the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with the others. That's a great way to protect you dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The low D is the D below middle C. The A is the A below middle C. The high Ds are the note above middle C. If you do no have access to a keyboard, you can call up these notes on your computer to hear how they sound. This should help get you in the neighborhood. Remember to keep the note sounding as you turn the tuning peg. If your Korg gives the octave of the note you are tuning to the notes are (low to high) D3, A3, D4.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's a really good album. I wore out the vinyl version.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for the link to your website Riksgewijs. That is a very nice lyre. I enjoyed seeing how you made it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for the update Greg.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I am happy to do that.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It's on my calendar for 2020. I will not schedule any overseas trips near the date again. Originally my trip to Italy was to start on May1, but the tour company had to move the starting date to May 8 which meant coming back on May 19 rather than May 12. Had the original schedule worked I would have arrived home on Sunday and left for Berea on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to next year.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty, thanks for the more complete reply. I was just heading out this morning when I saw this post and offered a quick reply. I put new strings on my uke and use a D tuning. It is much easier to play to with the dulcimers that way.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It depends. Are you willing to retune your dulcimer to play with the ukuleles? Most ukulele groups today tune their instruments to the key of C rather than D, so you would need to tune down to CGc or CGG. Of course if the songs the group plays use only the D, G, and A chords you can play along without any problems. It's all about the music.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You will like those pegs. I've replaced the violin pegs on a couple of the first dulcimers I built with the geared pegs. They work really well and make tuning easier. The back looks really nice. I like using wood bindings.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Checking on the Folkcraft website, the Folkroots dulcimers that have a 29" vsl the string gauges are:  .012, .015, .024RW. Howard Rugg may see this and comment on what he initially put on the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You can use the Strothers' string calculator to get a good approximation of the strings to use. I think it tends toward the light side. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html  Just follow the directions.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Looks like nice wood. I trust that when it is finished you will share that with us as well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Very nice instrument, Jack. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's really nice John. I bet it sings sweetly.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Since the fretboard is level I do not see a problem with playing it on your lap. As long as the glue joints are solid I do not see a problem with it coming apart. Some dulcimer builders put a curve on the bottom intentionally.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I knew Ruth from several dulcimer events I attended. I enjoyed sharing music with her. We talked about her on another dulcimer site (probably one of the Facebook dulcimer pages). She is missed by many.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That is a beautiful instrument. Enjoy and have fun playing it (which I am sure you will). Richard makes wonderful instruments.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Nice, Randy. I could sit and listen to you play all day. Might need a break for pizza though.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wow, really nice figured rosewood. It is a beautiful instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Welcome back, Jeannie. It is wonderful to hear about your new dulcimers. David makes a really nice dulcimer which I'm sure you will enjoy. My best wishes are extended to you as you continue to recover from the fire and loss of your home and possessions.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Enjoy your new dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Glad my suggestion worked out. Enjoy your new to you dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Is the lower string also tuned to D an octave lower than the others? That is certainly a valid dulcimer tuning. It looks like you can easily add a groove in the nut to make it a double melody string. You would then move the other string to the center slot which is already on the nut. Using the proper strings for the vibrating string length of the dulcimer you could certainly tune to DAA or DAd.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Three that have some meaning for me:

There's A Meeting Here Tonight sung by the Limeliters

Jimmy Newman written and sung by Tom Paxton

Paradise written and sung by John Prine

My three favorite hymns:

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Now Thank We All Our God

My Life Flows On In Endless Song

I could make up lots of categories for three songs, but I'll stop with those two.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You might check this website: http://www.dulcimers.co.uk . Robin Clark is a member here. He sells several different brands of dulcimers including McSpadden.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Interesting, very interesting.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Guitar Tab Universe uses an "after the fact" type of copyright situation. The site places the responsibility of the copyright owner to notify it that a particular piece of music is posted unlawfully. Once the notice and supporting evidence is supplied, the offending piece is removed. Most dulcimer sites prefer to proactive and ask that copyright material not be posted with out documented permission.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

My guess is that the strum hollow was invented by someone who did not like to hear the clicking sound of the pick against the fret board. Could have been Prichard or Thomas or someone else.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

When I first saw the title of this discussion, I was going to suggest using a pick instead, but now that I understand the topic of this discussion, I won't do that. I just received a soprano ukulele and enjoy playing along with my dulcimer friends.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with Greg's comments. I know some folks who have Cedar Creek dulcimers. I think they are a good quality dulcimer. There probably have not been as many made as McSpadden and Folkcraft. You just don't see as many around. They often come up on the used market although I can't recall prices paid for them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

One reason for letting instruments acclimate to their environment before opening is that with gloss finishes they will craze when subject to rapid changes in temperature. This is much more likely to happen than a problem with the wood. Temperature and humidity will effect wood expansion and contraction and glue joints. The use of modern glues has pretty much eliminated the glue joint problem. It is always better to err on the side of caution than to be eager and sorry.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with the Hoffman part. Could be Albert.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings sweet song."

Like John said, i would advise them to let them acclimate to room temperature before opening if they are coming out of a UPS, FedEx, or post office truck. I picked up a ukulele I ordered at the post office this morning and opened it right away when I got home. I reasoned that it had been in the heated post office for about 4 1/2 hours and I carried it to my parked truck (about 30 seconds in the cold) which was warm and drove home (about two minutes) pulled in to the garage. I then walked to the house (about 30 seconds) and then went inside. I placed the box on the table, heated a cup of coffee in the microwave and then opened the package. No problem.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's a good looking group of fellows. I couldn't make out writing, so I'll take your word for it. Thanks for sharing this unique find.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'll need to check some brochures for certain, but I think in 1976 Musical Traditions dulcimers were made in West Virginia. i do not recall when Hank Levin sold the Musical Traditions line to the folks in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I visited Howard a couple of years ago. He was starting to build again at that point. As you can see from the other posts, he is still building very high quality dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I like that shape of that dulcimer, Lisa.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."