Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

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Okay, if finally found time to take some pictures of my case. I have used it for almost 40 years. Here they are:

Yes, that is correct. The bass string would be closest to the player or on top just as you would see it if you were playing guitar.

I have a rosewood overlay on one of my dulcimers. My son has a wenge overlay on his. Both are nice, but I think ebony is best the fret board material. I have it on one of my guitars and two banjos. I just like the feel and speed of an ebony fret board. I have walnut fret boards on my other dulcimers and have not problem with them. I do not use Fast Fret on any of my instruments, do not treat the fret boards often or regularly, nor clean them often or regularly. My rosewood fret board is oiled from the oil in my fingers. All the other fret boards are oiled the same way. I have fret boards finished with violin varnish, lacquer and no finish at all. I never noticed any appreciable difference in sound quality or volume from different fret board construction. Ken Hulme likes Titebond. I like Elmer's Carpenters' Wood Glue. Their formulations are similar I think.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song.'

I think ebony is the best fret board material although none of my dulcimers have ebony fret boards. I have one dulcimer with an unfinished rosewood fret board. All the others are walnut fret boards with different finishes from violin varnish to lacquer.

Great story! I hope the fox enjoys all those potential dulcimer nuts and saddles.

That should be John Wood. Must have had Jim on my mind. Didn't catch that in time to edit it. I have met around 65 members of FOTMD give or take one or two. Looking forward to meeting more at festivals this year.

And I had the pleasure of meeting Jim and his wife Bev as well as Jim Wood and Kevin Messenger at the same event.

I have to agree with Rob. It definitely looks like one of the 1970s Korean dulcimers. Many of them sounded very nice. Enjoy your dulcimer.

Joy To The World

Go Tell It On The Mountain

I, too, am interested to know if there had ever been half frets on this instrument. I need to go back and look at all my pictures of Prichard dulcimers. I can't recall ever seeing one with frets all the way across the fret board. Also the feet on the back do not look like anything I have ever seen on a Prichard. It is a great looking dulcimer.

You're welcome Robin. Glad they had a copy.

No problem Robin. The offer is open as long as the supply lasts. Ollies buys damaged tractor trailer loads, remainders, etc. I do not know where these books came from, but they are new and shrink wrapped. Folk music and crafts are only a small part of the Encyclopedia.

I think there are seven more copies at the Ollies here. I am not sure how much it would cost to send them at the media mail rate, but it would still be cheaper than the list price. I am willing to purchase a few and send them out just for the cost of the book and mailing.

I posted this information over at EverythingDulcimer, but for those who are here at FOTMD and do not visit ED, I thought I would share it here as well.

I had a pleasant surprise the other day while browsing through the books at Ollie's Bargain Outlet. For those not familiar with Ollie's here is what Wikipedia has to say about it: Ollie's Bargain Outlet is a chain of retail stores founded in 1982 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania by the late Morton Bernstein. The first store was opened in Mechanicsburg, just outside Harrisburg. The chain now has 120 locations (as of June 2012) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, New York, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Michigan.
Well, I found a copy (actually eight brand new shrink wrapped copies) of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia for $9.99 each. The EOA is published by the University of Tennessee Press and is still in print from them for $79.95 (Amazon, $70.95). Needless to say I purchased a copy. It has an extensive section on Music which contains a one page entry for the fretted dulcimer and a half page entry for hammered dulcimer. Other items of interest to folks on ED include the section on crafts and folklore. I am just beginning to explore this handy reference to Appalachia.
If you do a web search for Encyclopedia of Appalachia you will find a listing for the music section which is accessible on the Internet. It will give you a good feel for the book. I think that eventually the whole book will be on the Internet. While I have enjoyed the web edition it is nice to be able to hold the print edition and look through it.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I am probably in the minority in that I consider all musical instruments to be its. No gender. I studied German in high school and college. I think there are other instruments using the feminine article, but I do not know what they are. It is just one of those recollections from many years ago.

Jan, I am coming in late to this discussion of your dulcimer, but if you want to know more about your particular instrument, Howard Rugg, over at www.EverythingDulcimer.com can tell you all about it. He and his brother along with Jackel made your dulcimer. I do not know if Howard is on here at FOTMD, but he does check in at ED occasionally. You might try asking about your dulcimer in the "History of Dulcimers and Songs" thread.

Ken

Rich, don't worry about wrong place. Perhaps one of the moderators will move it the right place. Since you live in Indiana why don't you drive over Folkcraft and try out a few dulcimers. If they don't have what you want in the showroom they can build a custom instrument for you. The VSL can be anywhere from 22 to 29 inches. I find little difference between my 25 inch scale and 27 inch scale dulcimers.

Ken

I have been a Folkcraft dealer for over ten years. I can tell you that a 25 percent discount would not leave me much of a profit. Perhaps if I sold a hundred of them a month I could do that, but I only sell around eight a year at the present rate. Of course I do not advertise nor do I do Internet sales. I do discount the dulcimers I sell. One of the reasons Folkcraft is behind on production is that almost all of the instruments being sold these days are custom instruments and not stock models. If I want to have stock models like the FSH series on hand, I have to special order it.

John, that's a neat case. Very handy (pardon the pun).

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Quinn, thanks for that link, but I think the one referred to as not working is the one in the original post. Kyle Daniel Mills posted a link to research paper he wrote on C.N. Prichard, but that link no longer works. Back in November I visited CN's grave and place one of the copies I made of his dulcimers on the stone and took a picture. It was a memorable moment.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Moonshine, if you can venture out of Minneapolis, you can try this store:

Hobgoblin Music
920 State Hwy 19
Red Wing MN 55066

It is also known as Stoney End.

Or try:

Musicmaker's Kits
14525 61st St. Ct. N
PO Box 2117
Stillwater, MN 55082

They may have some completed dulcimers for sale.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I passed on the audition when Folkcraft contacted me as I tried one out at the Indiana Dulcimer Festival and purchased it. I was favorably impressed. Because of the height of the fret board it is not really suitable for noter/drone style playing.

McSpadden dulcimers are made by a group of people. No one person makes the instrument from start to finish. The person who happens to attach the top to the back and sides is the one who signs the label. In all likelihood, every one in the shop had a hand in building each instrument that is made. Just and FYI.

That's wonderful news Lisa. Enjoy the rebec which it seems you are doing already.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I think Hank Levin now lives in California. He no longer makes mountain dulcimers. I have a web site somewhere for his current endeavors. If I can find it, I will post it here. I, too, have a MT dulcimer which is all cherry with the Grover tuners.

Ken

I found it. Here it is: http://www.musicaravan.com/home