Forum Activity for @ken-longfield

Olddog75 has provided good information.  A good source of strings is juststrings.com . You can make up your own sets. If you find that you don't like playing with equidistant strings you can add notches in the nut and bridge to play with a double melody string. The original tuning from the photo is melody string E, first drone E, second drone E, and the bass string G. If you are tuning to ddAD, the melody string will be d, first drone d, second drone A, and the bass string D. If you find the McSpadden set too loose or too tight you can calculate the ideal strings for your dulcimer using the Strother's string calculator but bear in mind that it tends to be a little "light" with it's suggestions. You can probably go up a gauge or two. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html

I hope this helps you. Let us know how the new strings work.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

What a nice find, Jim. It's fun to be reacquainted with things you've enjoyed in the past but forgot about. Have fun with harps. I'm not familiar with Sonny Boy Williamson but I'm going to look him up.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

What a terrible thing to have to deal with Nate. At least you know the hate was misdirected, but I can't imagine the sickly feeling when you read the first one. You are handling it well. It is good to be among friends here where you can receive sympathy and support. We've got your back.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I agree with Wally regarding his statement about Robin Clark not really understanding the place of the dulcimer within Appalachian culture. But, I think that is true of many of us. The temptation is to generalize e.g., because community A had a play party where a few people played dulcimer, all play parties included dulcimer playing. Appalachia is a diverse region culturally. Some religious groups did not allow musical instruments in worship and developed wonderful a cappella singing. Others that had organs and/or pianos developed great choral (choir) traditions. 

When we speak of a specific practice we need to identify its place (Knott County, KY; Galax, VA;  Watauga County, NC; etc.). We cannot generalize that practice to other communities without evidence of that practice in those other communities. We tend to pick up a practice and romanticize it. While historians look for evidence to support various notions we have about the mountain dulcimer, its origins, use, place in community, etc., we continue to tell what we "learned" about the dulcimer as unsupported "facts." We all like good stories.  I think we need to be careful about the stories we tell. Do they share facts or continue myths? I've learned over the years to be careful in sharing my research in to dulcimer history. I ask myself what substantiates what I am sharing. If I can't accurately state something as fact, I will present it as theory yet to be proven.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

My strategy when facing adverse conditions as far as playing outside is simple. I cancel any plans to play outside. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The only place I've used delrin is as John noted; bridge caps on the hammered dulcimers I've made. For mountain dulcimers I've used ebony, rosewood, walnut, oak ,and micarta. Each provides a pleasant sound. As to McSpadden using micarta, that would be for the bridge/saddle as they don't really have a nut since they use a zero fret. Now as to whether these materials are better than bone, it is subjective. Bone tends to give a sharp, crisp sound as does ebony. The other woods tend mellow out the sound depending upon hardness; at least to my ears.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for sharing this delightful story Nate. Yep, it was a wonderful way to start the day with good news.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sorry for taking so long to reply, but it has taken me a while to search for them. I did find a reference to Joyce and Richard Angell in her mother's obituary in 2009. I also found a reference where someone mentioned Joyce as the maker of her dulcimer. And that's it. There still is a Richard H. Angell living in Texarkana on McKeehan Lane. His mother-in-law's last name was McKeehan. I don't know if that area had a split in area code as the phone number begins with a different on than on the card but follows with the 799 prefix. The listing gives two female relatives neither of whom is a Joyce. His age is listed as 71. This was all I could get for free. I have no idea if this the dulcimer maker.

Now as the dulcimer itself, I think you can assume that the dulcimer was made by one or the other Angell. It appears to be well built and is nicely decorated. As to value it is anyone's guess. Obviously the Angell's are not well known as dulcimer makers. My guess is that on a site like eBay it would probably bring between $200 and $300 dollars.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Tuning keys or wrenches are readily available from many places online as are violin bows. I don't have either of my ukelin bows available to measure at the moment, both are with a friends who is going to re-hair them for me, so I can't give you an exact measurement of length. Looking on the internet I found this bow which is probably a little longer than the ukelin bow. It should work fine for violin uke. Violin bow And while this tuning key is a bit more expensive than others you will find on the internet, it is my favorite style. Tuning wrench These are not necessarily recommendations. They were just what I found in a quick search. Of course if you are an Amazon Prime member you'll get free shipping on them. There may be some music stores around or near Manheim where you can purchase them. I have some local music shops up here by State College where I sometimes pick up items like these.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'll answer for Jerry as I'm sure it is Bernd Krause. Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KrauseInstruments/ He makes some very nice instruments.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Daniel, scroll down three posts and click on the photo.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

No problem. The violin uke appears to have zither tuning pegs which the Marx company probably used by the millions. It appears to be in fairly good condition.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

At our Tuesday night TTAD Zoom group I usually play a dulcimer I made based on the C.N. Prichard pattern. It is walnut and butternut. With our local group I usually play my all walnut Folkcraft FSH.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well, my memory isn't very good. I took out my Sunhearth dulcimer and it has four strings. Here are four photos of that dulcimer. They may help you as you work on restoring yours. As you can see it has fine tuners; the black things between the saddle (bridge) and the end of the dulcimer. Also, it has three feet on the bottom as early dulcimers were meant to be played on table tops and not on laps. I'd be happy to try and answer any specific questions you have. I knew Walt Martin and visited his shop. I have two articles written about him and a Sunhearth brochure from 1974. If you send me your email address in a private message here I'd be happy to send them to you as pdfs. Just click on the link under my name and that will take you to my home page where you can click on Send A Message.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The photos you uploaded are too large to really see the instrument in question. Dwain Wilder who is a member here studied with Walt Martin who made the Sunhearth dulcimers. With good photos he should be able to answer your questions. I have a very nice Sunhearth teardrop dulcimer and I may be able to answer some questions as well. In the first photo all I can see a little bit of the top. The second photo shows the tail end and no top on the dulcimer. The third photo shows the saddle end of the fret board. It looks like there are two slots. Maybe one wasn't correct and the builder cut another slot to correct it. The fourth photo shows the strum hollow and perhaps where a slot for the saddle was going to be cut. The fifth photo shows part of the peg head. I have no idea what the sixth photo is.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Here is a photo of the tuning wrench which came with my ukelin. I imagine a similar one was supplied with the violin uke.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 IMG_0335.jpeg - 301KB

I think most autoharp tuning pins today are 13/64 ths of an inch by 1.5 inches long. I have a ukelin and can check the tuning wrench that came with it to see if that is the same size. Sometimes you can substitute a t-handle tap wrench for tuning wrench depending upon how much space you have between the pins.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Are you referring to the instrument made by the Marx Company? It bears a strong resemblance to another of their instruments called a ukelin. The plain (unwound) strings can be replaced with plain steel guitar strings. The wound strings can be replaced with wound guitar strings. You will have a lot of string leftover. An alternative is to use autoharp strings, but it is probably more expensive. Use a micrometer to measure the thickness of the strings. As Nate said a photo of the instrument or several photos will help us better help you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Happy along with his brother, Artie, was a great innovator in providing instruction to folk musicians. I think many of us from that era of folk music appreciated Happy's contributions to and promotion of folk music. He will be missed by family, friends, and those of us who used some of the resources he provided.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for this information, Fiona. That's one of the few issues of DPN that I don't have. It was interesting reading. I sure do miss the Whole Earth Catalog. It was fun to read and leaf through it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thank you everyone for your comments. It is still a work in progress as it is an old case and continues to need some work. I do a little repair and restoration on the outside of the case a couple of day a week. I think the top is finally completely glued in place. I'll be dressing some frets that are a little high in the next few days. Then I will restring it and try to get a sound sample posted.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Here is a little project I've been working on. It's not completely finished yet, but enough of it done for me to share it. The sound board is poplar. The fretboard is walnut. There is piece of maple inlaid in to the strum hollow in homage to the violin. The tuning pegs are zither pins. In cleaning out the attic I found this old, empty violin case. I thought I'd turn it into a dulcimer.

 IMG_0328.jpeg - 228KB

I went back through all my photos of dulcimer displays but could not find any displayed as you want to do it. They were either hung vertically or laid out horizontally. Those at an angle were resting against something. The "unobtrusive" support fis puzzling me. Most of what I've thought of would require making some sort of cradle to hold the lower end.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I think his use of pull-offs adds to the delight of this tune.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Since I'm coming into this discussion rather late, all of my suggestions except one have been offered. If you go to the trouble of angling the end block under the peg head, you could angle the end of the peg head to fit flat against the fret board. You could flatten out the top of the peg head by the fret board to place the nut on or cut a dado to accept the nut. This probably the most work intensive suggestion.

And as Ken Hulme said, "Keep us posted - show us your solution."

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well, John, it is an exquisite instrument, but coming out of your workshop that's what I expect. You do beautiful work. Thanks for sharing it here.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ever since I encountered my first live dulcimer person back in the summer of 1970 I've had mostly positive experiences with dulcimer people. There have been those who looked down on me for playing mostly in 1 - 5 - 5 tunings and those who thought I was a simpleton for playing with a noter, but I've ignored them. I try to be encouraging of all dulcimer player and builders and find positive things to say even if there dulcimer thing isn't my dulcimer thing. After 54 years of having a love affair with mountain dulcimer, I'm not about to discourage anyone from having a similar experience. Just remember, no matter where and how you play or build it,

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken

Well, idle, I'm looking forward to your questions. Many folks seem to migrate to the mountain dulcimer when having problems playing other instruments. I am having problems fingering chords on guitar, but don't have a problem with the banjo. Luckily I've been playing mountain dulcimer for the last 50 years and can still play chords on it although my preferred style of playing is with a noter.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I don't know what didn't work, but I like the drawing. Always nice to see some FOTMD friends no matter the form, human or drawn characters. Thanks for sharing it, Jon.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Yes.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Walt Martin, of Sunhearth Dulcimers, put fine tuners on his instruments. Rather than using beads he made them out of ebony and they were pyramid shaped. A small hole drilled from one end in a slightly upward direction met another hole drilled from the opposite direction met in the middle so that the string moved over a slight peak inside the tuner. By sliding it forward or backward one could shorten or lengthen the string length. I believe Dwain Wilder continues to off this on his Bear Meadows dulcimers, the successor of Sunhearth.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Jan, that is wonderful that you were able to visit Cynthia. On the way there and back you could have visited many more members of FOTMD who are not far off the route you traveled. I have not seen Cynthia participating here in a long time and must admit that I've been neglectful in contacting her.  Thank you for your report on your visit.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm happy to hear that you are back home. I pray that you recover fully and heal quickly.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm glad to hear that everything worked out for you with your new dulcimer. I'm sure you will enjoy playing it and it will bring you joy for many, many years.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks for pointing this out Wally. I guess I skimmed over the Geared Tuners part without it registering in my brain. The word "Friction" jumped out at me. 

Yes, it would be nice to see the installation instructions.

I agree, it is a puzzlement.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The one thing I noticed in the description of the tunes from aliexpress is that they are described as "friction" tuners rather than planetary. Could these be friction tuners disguised as a planetary tuner? Or is it an AI generated description? It has been interesting reading all these responses.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm glad my friends here were able to help you, Andrew. The next time you decide to change your strings I would do as suggested and put a drop of glue under the nut and the bridge to keep them from moving when you put the new strings on. If they are not secured in place they will slide in the slots as you've discovered. You are conquering the idiosyncrasies of the mountain dulcimer. Stick with it, you are doing well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Like Ken I haven't heard of James Norris. My guess is that he was not a prolific builder and sold most dulcimers he made locally. Also, like Ken, I'd be interested in seeing some photos of the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The reference to long neck banjos being folk banjos probably harks back to Pete Seeger elongating the neck of his banjo by three frets. Many of the banjo players in folk groups in the late 1950s and 60s copied this and banjo manufacturers such as Gibson and Vega offered long neck models. My first banjo was a Gibson RB175 long neck. Unfortunately my arms were too short to continue playing it. I liked the sound of that banjo. Maybe some day I will find an RB170 for sale that I can afford. It's the short neck version of the long neck "folk" banjo.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song." 

A group of us visited the Niles Center back in 2018. We were able to not only view, but also handle all of the instruments. Niles had some interesting ideas. Listening to him play and sing is an "acquired taste." While he did build some instruments, as John said "he had some builders make him dulcimers." Dr. Pen has the most knowledge of anyone I know about Niles and his instruments. Dr. Carr was very gracious in hosting us at the Center. We did see some patterns and drawings he made for some of the instruments. I don't know if there are any specific articles about the instruments themselves which talk about why he did what with a particular dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."