dusty,
Thanks, I wrote a message to Pristine2's homepage. Will see if he answers, several older messages, I didn't see where he answered so not sure. Hope is is well.
I place a call to Clemmer's shop, Wood N Strings. They are busy right now but when they have a minute will call me back. I will post what I find out but I like your idea of symbolic meanings of the different sound holes from ( "tall tale tellers" at FOTMD!)
marg, here is Pristine2's homepage here at FOTMD. He clearly has not been active recently.
As you can see from the ED discussion, even the explanations for the hearts differ among different luthiers, and those explanations may indeed be particular to those individuals rather than representing some broad folk tradition. My uncle makes autoharps with a dog footprint as the soundhole. Why? Because the autoharp is man's best friend? Because music has left its imprint on his soul? No. Because he likes dogs. According to Ralph Lee Smith, Homer Ledford began making dulcimers with diamond-shaped soundholes for two reasons: to be different than other luthiers who were using hearts, and because they were easier to cut with a simple chisel. Practical, rather than symbolic reasons. But he received so many requests for hearts that he went back to making hearts instead (see Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions , 2nd edition, page 116).
It would be nice to find some interesting symbolic meaning to the trailing hearts, but it might be that we have to make something up. If that's the case, don't worry; we have enough "tall tale tellers" at FOTMD!
I had put Pristine2 in under member search & he didn't pop up. I remember he was a member awhile back.
Some post on hearts, & up-side down ones & what is a traditional sound hole, seems there should be some meaning to what design is chosen either by the builder or the person who is ordering one - especially if the design denotes something sad, like weeping or crying. If a 'cigar sometimes is just a cigar' I would rather think the design is just a combination of f-holes & hearts.
Sounds like you have been having high temp's out in CA, stay cool - summer is here
marg, Pristine2 is a member here as well, though he is not as active as he used to be. You might consider contacting him to see if he has any information.
As an old psychology professor used to say, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I think those weeping hearts look really cool. Maybe that's all there is to it.
dusty,
I saw on a everythingdulcimer post 11/2008, pristine2 (when he came over) was going to pick up a carrell teardrop that has the same soundholes & stretched out head piece as my fiddleback. I wonder if he was able to get any info on it?
Interesting, I was just watching an old video he did on adjusting a bridge
I can't answer your question, Marg, about the meaning behind the weeping or bleeding hearts. Someone asked that same question a few year ago on Everything Dulcimer and got no answer.
But I thought you might be interested in this discussion a few years back about the different sound holes on peoples' dulcimers. I joined that discussion when I only had one dulcimer. I think I'll have to post again since I now have several and several others have passed through my hands.
If we go back 30+ years, there wasn't as many sound hole designs as now - does anyone know
the meaning behind 'weeping hearts', 'trailing hearts' or 'crying hearts'?
When was this sound hold started & is it just the combination of traditional heart & traditional f-hole?
Some builders have a signature sound holes, has anyone done a study of who has or had what designs?
Is the photo attached (Sam Carrell, 1984) sound holes 'weeping hearts', 'trailing hearts' or just a combination of heart & f- hold?
Any ideas?
