Thanks Ken !   I'm about 3 hours north of Williamsport but wouldn't know where to look.  Could be an interesting trip.   I'm going to try locally first but finding vertical grain will be interesting.  I'll keep a drive to PA in mind if all else fails.

I'm lucky here in central PA where there are many saw mills. Sometimes you can find short pieces that won't sell to well because they are only 3 or 4 feet long. You can get them for a really good price. Gotta love those Amish saw mills.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John, I knew about CBGitty but not about Ocooch so will check them out.   THANKS !

You could try looking up Ocooch Hardwoods for thin, very good quality wood.  They cater to laser engravers and scroll-sawers, but will cut to the sizes you want also.

Hello, Jack!  Welcome to the party!

You could try looking up Ocooch Hardwoods for thin, very good quality wood.  They cater to laser engravers and scroll-sawers, but will cut to the sizes you want also.

CBGitty has many inexpensive parts to choose from.  They cater to cigar-box guitar builders, but us as well.

Have fun!

Thanks Shopdad, My poor Dad was a master electrician and dabbled in woodworking.  I'm a retired machinist/modelmaker.  My first dulcimer build will have a ukulele type head with cheapo machine tuners.   I plan on a fretboard that stops just beyond the frets with a separate bridge/saddle that rests on the top.  Wood seems expensive and hard to find in long lengths.   Next week I'll be looking locally for walnut, butternut, and cherry with vertical grain which will be a challenge.  I have Kimball's book and am looking at stuff online.      Shop is left over from a small business.  Have a couple of benches in the basement along with mill, engine lathe, laser, printer, home made CNC router as well as too many hand tools. Band saw, tablesaw, and home made thickness sander are in the garage.  I have a "go-deck" made for ukuleles that I will try to convert for dulcimers.  Been through tough times physically so going will be slow due to only standing for short time and then have to rest.  Brain says go and body says NO! LOL.

Hello Jack, Welcome to the Friends of dulcimers group. I am somewhat new myself. I have been playing for almost two years and working on my third build. I have learned a lot from experience even though others have been a great help. I have also learned there are a lot of great folks on this site that are willing and capable of helping with questions about playing as well as building. These comments are from a retired Floridian familiar with wood projects as well as metal. raised in a Body shop since I was a young boy. 38 years as an electrician and years of music background in school and college. I also do a lot of fossil digs and guide for school, boy Scouts and church groups. I started carving my own decoys for duck hunting back in the 70's then went into carving other types of decor. Married for 60 years with 4 great kids. Sounds like we may have a few things in common

Thanks for letting me in the door.   I first learned of the dulcimer in the 1970s via Foxfire books.   I'm not really musically inclined but do enjoy listening and want to try dabbling both in building and playing.   So far, I've been spending time on YouTube and reading.  Now gathering some materials.  I'm equally comfortable in working wood and metal so dulcimers look straightforward to build.  This is a beginning for me.  Located in upstate NY a short walk from Lake Ontario and retired with my wife.  

I just spent nearly an hour on Nina's site. I listened to most of the videos and viewed the photos. I am familiar with black Mountain. I have family in the Asheville and Burnsville area. Yes, Damon, that is what attracted me to that style. It may be miles down the road for this old man but everyone began somewhere and it was always at the beginning. 

I'm amazed at how finger style sounds so fluid.

I don't play finger style, but my friend does Nina Zanetti does. Visit her website https://www.ninazanetti.com and you will find some good information on finger style playing. She has some free tabs you can download. If you try one or two of them you will get a feel for the style.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Nate, (and to anyone else that wishes to respond) I appears you have been playing the dulcimer for a while. I'm somewhat new at it. I have viewed several posts on "finger picking". I have been "note plucking" for a long time and found the finger picking sty very intriguing. It appears there are several "picking" patterns to choose as a person plays the piece. I have a ton of questions. Who or where can I get more info on the subject? 

Thanks Nate, I have been working with wood projects since the 70s, but not until the past two years making dulcimers. I am a duck hunter and carved my own decoys for years. I love fishing, so I have several fish decoys and wall decors in the den. Building dulcimers just came naturally I guess. With me, I love to stay busy. I retired in 2004 and have many interests that keep me miles away from boredom. 

Welcome Paul! 

The photos you have shared are super cool and i look forward to your input. 

How long have you been building instruments? The work you did looks terrific.

I have always loved fossils. My grandfather owned some land with a lot of slate and shale, and i used to have a lot of fun cracking them open.

Hope to see more creations,

Nate

This is Shop Dad, I'm slowly catching on to the FOTMD system. My name is Paul Shutes, I have lived in Florida since 1942. I have several other interests other than music. I have had an interest in fossil hunting since my kids were young. I do anywhere from four to seven digs a year. I am a guide for Creation Studies Institute. 

I also am a member of a local gym and work out on a scheduled basis. This began after some health issues myself, determined to stay healthy. 

I am a father of four of the best kids in the world, one of which is with his heavenly father. My wife and I just celebrated our sixtieth anniversary. 

Bottom line, I love life.  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/448674886231259

This is the link and contact information for the Central Florida dulcimer Folks...They hold a fest North East of Orlando each year in the spring time. They have well over 700 members...I'm sure they can help direct you. A few of my recent customers were from "the Villages", but I looked and they would be quite a trip for you.   Keep turning over the rocks....you are sure to find a player or two nearby.....

I just joined a few months ago. I do have a question and wasn't sure where to post it. Can anyone tell me if there is a dulcimer or strings group in Central Florida? Somewhere around Brevard County or, Vero Beach, Palm Bay, Kissimmee, or Cocoa?

@terry-jaye The scale in the little video sounds pretty good to my ear.  Happy strumming!  

@jennifer-landry I'm glad you were able to acquire that pretty Bill Berg instrument-- enjoy!  

Thanks for sharing your good news Jen. It's good to have you back and I hope you stay active. Let us know if you have any questions.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi everyone! I’ve actually been a member for years, and may have introduced myself years ago. But it’s been a long time since I played dulcimer as the one I had was, well, more of a wall decoration than a playable instrument. I’ve been looking for a better one for a long time that I could afford, and finally found one that arrived on my doorstep just a few hours ago. It’s a beautiful Bill Berg teardrop, that has the ability to have 5 strings but it was restored by John Keeton to have a conventional 4 string setup, with doubled melody strings and just the one bass string. You can see it in my profile pic. I’m so happy with this beautiful instrument. The action is gorgeous. I’ve only ever tried to play with a noter because of some hand health issues but the action on this is so nice and easy I may actually be able to learn some chords too! I’ll be around the forums, gleaning the wisdom of all of you more advanced players!

Jen Landry, Gardner MA

My brother pointed out in the video link I posted that the 2nd fret played sounded flat. Of course it did. I played the extra 1.5 fret that I installed. Here's the scale played with skipping that fret.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TfBKTuRxxdmPuRA77

Yes, not excavating and cutting foundation walls this time. If it flies, it will be because of frustration. Although I'm not prone to throwing things that matter.

It's in testing mode right now. I need to move the 2 melody strings closer together. Minutes ago I received a little amp/speaker/bluetooth thingie that plugs into the output jack. Not really loud, but very portable. Google photo link below. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/byTkN4caWCsD9HBg7

I'm picking away at Amazing Grace as it's my mom's favorite.

Probably easier to get out of the basement than the aircraft was.....

Nice build.....Will it fly?

Nicely done, @terry-jaye .  Have you tested it out yet? What starter tune are you experimenting with?

Nice!

Hello all. I've been aware of dulcimers for over 52 years, but never learned to play. I built one from plans in a 1973 Popular Science issue when I was age 14. I was fascinated with the graceful curves. Here's a snap of the original article.

With the very limited resources living in rural Southern Ontario, I was able to approximate the instrument. No one including the big city music store nearby knew what I was talking about. It served it's purpose as a wall decoration for all these years. This past winter I noticed the peg box had spilt. I did a minor restoration and finally purchased dulcimer strings and replaced the pegs.

I lent it to a classical guitarist neighbor of mine. She returned it stating it was difficult to play. She was being kind. After some research and viewing lots of Youtube videos, I came to the conclusion that the first 4 frets were correct. For some reason, I inserted another a slightly more than an inch after the 4th. The rest were correct but offset by that 1 inch. The instrument was unplayable and it's now back on the wall.

I decided I there was one more dulcimer in my bones and started construction on an electric one. Nine days after starting, it's functionally complete. I have more resources and time than I did for the last project. I shaped it to pay homage to the original. This one has a removable fretboard so that mistakes are easily fixed. Also allows for a chromatic fretboard if I want to go that route. I made use of  AN aircraft fasteners everywhere. I built an aircraft in my basement some years ago and those fasteners ger used everywhere It's visible on the photo above the two instruments.

Anyway, I'm learning to play the new one. I don't have a musical bone in my body, but should be able to crank out some tune in a mechanical way. I'll post the construction process in the appropriate forum. It was nice to find this site as I'll probably need some advice and assistance.

Terry

Sweet!

I've been listening to Steve Reich for over 20 years.  Recently I did a piece with lyre and psaltery inspired by his earlier work, particularly Violin/Electric Guitar Phase and Drumming:

https://trebizond.bandcamp.com/track/lake-evendim

Hello world!

I’m Gareth, living just outside Edinburgh here in Scotland. I’ve played mandolin off/on for around 20 years (doesn’t make me good though!) and I drifted toward the Seagull Merlin family of instruments having noted them in a local music shop, along with mountain dulcimers. Exposure to traditional folk from the US got me interested in the dulcimer.

Presently I have two mandolins, a ‘project’ bouzouki and a Merlin which I bought gently used a few weeks ago. I’m finding the relative freedom of the Merlin to be really amazing and drawn to pick it up whenever I can. Usually while dinner is cooking or between meetings at work (when I’m working at home).

In the past I’ve played in a few groups with friends, then as part of a mandolin and guitar orchestra, but now mainly music-making is for my own amusement and general sanity.

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Oh, I love "Four Organs"!

I used “Four Organs” as an opening theme on a radio show I hosted on the Emerson College radio station, WERS, in the 70’s.  

I remember as a teenager around 1970 the classical music station my mother always had going on the radio would occasionally play some Reich. It was so haunting and made a big impression on me.

Yeah, with dulcimer I hear very much the same kind of music Steve Reich was composing back in the 1960s and 70s:

Honestly, I think it would sound better on dulcimer because the unique harmonics dulcimer has compared to guitar. Since minimalist music is also modal, dulcimer is also perfectly matched to this kind of music.

I've actually heard of Glowhazel! They're based in VA too it turns out. Was just listening to their 2020 EP earlier, here it is on Bandcamp https://glowhazel.bandcamp.com/album/you-will-find-it-in-the-forest

Well i hope that character uploads again, because it was very cool ambient dulcimer music.

@glowhazel may not have made any posts for several years, but they last logged in here 14 months ago. I'd imagine they are still playing music of some sort.  

Glowhazel's last post was four years ago. If you do a search under the members tab above for Glowhazel you will find all of the posts and videos from this member.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

There is one guy @glowhazel that used to upload really neat ambient stuff. Sadly i dont think hes posted anything recently.

This is awesome. So meditative

I've done some custom orders of Aeolian harps just for those "ambient" tones and backgrounds.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8QLd3SzYomXtscwucIa7KAMWu8_p9Gv/view?usp=sharing

Welcome!

My thoughts exactly.

Hi everyone! My name is Annie and I'm a beginner mountain dulcimer player. I'm based in Richmond, VA and my first time seeing a dulcimer in person was just last summer at a tea festival in Bristol, TN/VA. Couldn't stop thinking about it for months and finally got one.

I have a background in playing acoustic guitar and electric bass, plus a little ukulele. I also tried to teach myself banjo circa 2020. I'm currently learning off of a Backyard Music cardboard dulcimer and keeping an eye on ShopGoodwill, FB Marketplace etc for an affordable wooden option. Love this recent synthesizer discussion -- I've thought for a while that dulcimer could have an interesting role in ambient music, being a drone instrument and all.

@wally-venable , solid information! This way I can try this without spending a ton of cash.

Buying a new fretboard will cost you more than buying a 30 year old dulcimer and involve a lot more work.

I would suggest you consider buying an instrument on ShopGoodwill for $40 or less (including shipping and tax) and adding a cheap contact mic as an easy experiment. Since you will be shaping the sound with your electronics the body quality will make minimal difference.

Most of the instruments listed today on this page should serve your purposes. (I wouldn't say that to someone looking for a good acoustic instrument.)
https://shopgoodwill.com/categories/listing?st=dulcimer&sg=&c=&s=&lp=0&hp=999999&sbn=&spo=false&snpo=false&socs=false&sd=false&sca=false&caed=1%2F22%2F2025&cadb=7&scs=false&sis=false&col=1&p=1&ps=40&desc=false&ss=0&UseBuyerPrefs=true&sus=false&cln=1&catIds=&pn=&wc=false&mci=false&hmt=false&layout=grid&ihp=true

Professional Piezo Contact Microphone Pickup for Guitar Violin
ApproximatelyUS $2.57
Free Economy Shipping from Greater China
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335756608848?_skw=piezo+pickup&itmmeta=01JJ71EA19DF3XA0WECP531VMD&hash=item4e2ca74550:g:qpUAAOSwOPtneM1U&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKn2D4rzConcs1ki1Ui1XNKWM5p388NzRr7ctDbXkTg6jyJXUfQdgUK8S78UJ8CEyq5hhXsVafRrR2CmyoZFkhZIr6ptQzZxbUkoPa1y8kHxgLFENxppmRqORstXXLebiwlUtzcON8kk%2BQ%2FCVmfqUCqAghklDiAyP--nOGKZkfYA8l4lDa4g4v%2FxSWJZRKdGKAdDheOD5n6lpYerGCVv87BKQm%2Fzn6B%2FyPhEy1mITwdBR5r9powtvrK7QZKusCtkFtvkUwgn72gmxUb%2FDk4tJ%2FXl1tCRa%2BrVCKCr5R11UoHUCw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_6gueGRZQ

Very cool Damon. I dont know anything about synthesizers so i look forward to hearing what kinds of unique sounds you can get from the dulcimer.

Ive been making really simple lures as a hobby for several years now. Mainly spoons and tied flies but ive also tried making a couple molds for soft plastic lures, and Ive whittled a couple from wood as well. Catching a fish on my own lure is not only a very rewarding feeling, but has also taught me a lot about what fish really care about vs what they don't.

Great point. I don't have any kind of dulcimer at the moment. Honestly, I don't think I need the solid body since all the electronics are in the synth itself. So, it might be best to find a quality used instrument, then add a pick up of any kind.

I've even thought of buying a pre-made fretboard, then build a Tennessee Music Box out of the cedar dad left me. Then I could install any pick I wanted. Just spit balling ideas.

My knowledge is in two streams.

I use and arrange in MIDI for a crank organ with multiple voices controlled by solenoids, as well as a small MIDI synthesizer module.I don't think this has any bearing on your needs.

On the dulcimer side, I have used a $10 clip-on guitar pickup experimentally on a $40 dulcimer.. That worked as a connection to a 10 watt guitar amp.

I installed a ukulele tuner-preamp with piezo under-the-bridge installation on one on my $40 Korean dulcimers. Mostly I just use it as a tuner which never falls off or gets lost. I have tested it with a couple of small guitar amps, so I know it works, but I only play for fun with acoustic groups. I have thought it may be useful when working as a dulcimer class instructor, but found my home-made acoustic Tennessee Music Box dulcimer works well for our very small classes, and is convenient for use on a table in the front of the room.

If you already have any dulcimer, try a cheap guitar pickup first.

A solid body electric is fine, but probably expensive, and will have to be custom built with a considerable wait time.

.

Damon, I enjoyed your video. It was a great way to get to know you. I have no idea of how electronic music is produced, so I can't help you with how that relates to the mountain dulcimer. Also, I probably haven't fished for 60 years. I do like your entrepreneurship. I wish you much success with your lures and your music.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well, this is an analog synthesizer . There is no MIDI. It is not a computer. Think Apollo era technology. 

What's more is this is also a modular synthesizer . Every component is separate and must be connected via a wire. The synthesizer is only controlled by analog electricity, i.e., control voltages. 1 volt = 1 octave. This is a 5 volt system, therefore, 5 octaves.

Yes, in fact the only way to get external inputs is via common inputs like an electric guitar or microphone.

Are there digital components? Yes, but the principle is the same: It's only controlled by a wire and knobs. Even external MIDI has to be converted into control voltages, i.e. analog electrical signals where the synth itself is calibrated to 1 volt per octave making it possible to make music out of pure electricity.

To get a better idea of what I mean, here's the little clip Alabama Public TV did on me: https://www.pbs.org/video/black-warrior-lures-ibg1ax/

So, my thing is I want to add dulcimer to this whole mix. Getting an analog instrument into my synth is easy. It's just another microphone via the I/O input or the envelope follower . The envelop follower allows me to take any external audio signal, record player, tape recorder, iPhone, instruments, microphone even other synthesizers, and bring the level up to AE modular synth levels, which are very hot, btw. From there:

So, with all that, I ask would something with a magnetic pick up be more "interesting" than a Piezo pickup? Again the modular synth doesn't know what MIDI is. It only eats, digests and poops electrons. From your answer, and from what I understand, it won't matter.

It's almost as if you took a bunch of guitar pedals, stripped off the casing, and had to manually patch every wire and connection yourself to make it do anything.

It's not clear to me exactly what you propose to do.

In general, control of a synthesizer requires that the controller generate a digital signal, which is commonly in MIDI format. No pickup on an acoustic instrument can do that.

A dulcimer with a pickup CAN generate an analog audio signal which can be added as a digital stream in the output to a final audio file.

Can your system deal with input from a microphone or a common electric guitar? If not, an electric dulcimer will be no different.

Hi, I'm Damon. I'm a fisherman, tackle maker, filmmaker and composer. Totally new to the dulcimer world. The thing is I compose all the music for my YouTube channel. I want to add an electric dulcimer to use as a controller of sorts for my modular synthesizer. I'm not sure if I need a solid body dulcimer with a magnetic pickup, but I suspect a Piezo pick up would suffice as the synth has a signal amplifier and envelop follower to generate gates and control voltages to control the synth.

Check out this video to hear the kind of music I compose: https://youtu.be/Y8FyNbTsNKE?si=Gs_CvqYvixUxHywe

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

Attached is a picture of my modular synthesizer. It's totally Frankenstein. You have total control over the sound. Everything has to be patched with a wire and tweaked with knobs. I've been looking for a way to fuse an acoustic instrument with modular synths.

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Wow @chris-hornby . That is quite a futuristic approach. It turned out great. I'd love to hear a recording of it!

Hi Nate, It wasnt rocket science, I drew the parts out in inkscape and sent them to my laser cutter as SVGs. I paid for the butterfly motif STLs to make the sound holes. The parts for the strings, head, bridge etc. were printed on a 3d printer.

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Wow that is seriously cool. How did you manage to get such intricate cuts into the plywood? That must have taken a lot of work to make.

Thanks for the interest and the advice Nate. The dulcimer is made from 3mm ply, hence the painting! I was only unsure about the soundboard as it was too big and clunky, the sound was fine and the sympathetic strings really make things ring out. I have laser cut a new sound board to fit flush as I have seen pictures of other dulcimers which do this. I will post a picture of it but havent fitted it or decorated it yet. I have a gurdy and a nyckelharpa that both benefit from having sympathetic strings so I thought I would try them on a dulcimer and I am peased with the result. Having it fully fretted make it easier to find those "difficult " notes and also to change key either using a capo or fingering the chords differently.  I attach some pictures to show the details, if anyone wants to try I can send the drawings and STL files of the 3d printed parts, i.e. the head, bridge, nut and mount for the sympathetic strings machine head.

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head.jpg  •  202KB

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Sympathetic string machine heads.jpg  •  245KB

Sorry to hear that, i have noticed that sometimes having a "false bottom/galax board" or a built in "possum board" can dampen my sound. After several experiments I think a very rigid and thin "false bottom" is best for tone and sustain. I also think that the inside face of the "false bottom" should be coated in something that is "sonically reflective." A hard layer of shellac, polyurethane, or anything else that is super rigid.

Id love to see more pictures, the instrument looks awesome 

Nate

it is underneath the dulcimer (to stop it being muffled by the knees!). I am not happy with it so I am going to change that.

Wow, that's pretty cool Chris. What material is the dulcimer made from? Also, do you mean that it has an additional sound board on the inside of the instrument?

Hi, Its along time since I have been on here, but I have decided to become active again. I started by building me a new dulcimer. This on has 6 strings plus 8 sympathetic strings. Also a sounding board. It sounds quite nice

Another Devonian era person, eh?  I joined that age myself back in June.  Welcome, welcome.  There are several ways to play the dulcimer, to accommodate a variety of 'issues'.  We have a number of UK players here, so you're in good company.  If all else fails you can build your own box-shaped dulcimer for just a few quid and a day's worth of minor effort, and at least get started learning while looking for a really nice instrument.   That's how I started off fifty years ago -- built one so I could learn to play it...

We know shipping to the UK is really expensive.  One thought is to have someone here make you a fretboard, which can then be attached to a dulcimer shaped box over there.  The fretboard is the  critical part, of course, to making the instrument sound good.  A good size fretboard is only about 65x4x2 cm and should not be too expensive to ship.

Do you know about the Nonesuch Dulcimer Club there in the UK?  it's been around for dog's years.   You might google it and contact them to see if anyone has a dulcimer for sale.   

If you go to the Beginner Players Group here, you'll find a PDF of a booklet I wrote years ago called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?, which is an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms (so we all speak the same jargon) plus answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your dulcimer when you get or make it.  

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Hi Idle - I'm also UK-based, and an excellent source of Dulcimers in the UK is https://revelsmusic.co.uk/ . But also, lots of the US makers and shops will ship (McSpadden and Folkcraft both do quite quickly)!

Happy playing, all the best.

Rob

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."

Hello everyone.

I had intended to lurk in shadows while I gathered information especially as I don't have a Dulcimer - yet but I see that some of you already know I am here so decided to say hello.

I live in Sidmouth Devon and I am 76 going on 24 yet gradually winding down my type of instrument playing as old age and old mountain bike accidents come home to roost. I used to play acoustic guitar but I have problems supporting the necks now with my left arm. My pride and joy D28 also started to set off my tinnitus as did my fiddle and mandolin. Ended up with an octave mandolin and baritone ukulele that I still play. I just sold the OM so itching to buy a Dulcimer and still doing research on which one. Bit of a limited selection here in the UK but I think I have identified one.

I also have a lot of questions that I will post over time.

Lilley Pad -- Probably best if you start a New discussion rather than tacking this technical question onto the general  Introduce Yourself thread where it won't be seen by others.

Go out to General Dulcimer or Music Question, then click on the + on the top right of the page and give your Question a good name like Pickup Question.  Then put the info you posted here in there.  That way others who have the same question can search and find the answers which you'll get.

Hi kids. I hope I'm not repeating a previous post but I could not find anything under search so here goes. It's just a general question about pickups wanted to get feedback. K&K pickup versus LR baggs under saddle pickup. the little that I've been reading on the internet suggests that the K&K gives you a more realistic Acoustic sound. Do you guys find that to be true or what's your opinion in general? Thanks again, I hope everybody's doing well. A few months ago they operated on my left hand so now I'm doing finger exercises. I was getting what they call dupuytren’s contracture. I guess I'm just getting old. The good news is that everybody else is getting old with me. smile 

Hi Beth loved your exclamation about the D.A.A. disorder. I had a slight out break myself here. I almost bought a beautiful Used Blue Lion Dulcimer.  But after adding up the cost of the instrument having it shipped back to Blue Lion to have a pickup installed and retrofit the fretboard with the one and a half  fret and having no idea what it sound like, the cost reality hit me. There's an old saying with people with a custom car, paint and Chrome won't get you home. I guess what I'm trying to say is the aesthetic of the instrument got the better of me, then the practicality sunk in. I'll just stick with my FolkRoots and just accept the reality I can only play one instrument at a time. I'm much better now and have managed to shake off the disorder for now. ;o)

Beth:

Send in the Music ( https://www.sendinthemusic.com/) is a Free Zoom music jam each Saturday out of Fla.  there is a couple 

Jan & Hamish Cormie who usually play Welsh music, Men of Harlech (DGD)  & Grand Old Duke of York (DGD) - Arr Jan Cormie

If you don't know them, maybe you could contact them - write to Pat, she could help you out ( pat@sendinthemusic.com )

G -- GDG  Good on a short VSL dulcimer

Quick clarification:  "DAA" can refer to either a common tuning for us dulcimer players (with the bass string tuned to a low D, the tonic note played at the third fret of melody string, with the dulcimer played in the key of D) ...OR it can stand for "Dulcimer Acquisition Affliction"... a not uncommon illness whereby one succumbs to buying multiple dulcimers with little or no self control.

Sometimes the DAA illness settles down on its own after the initial raging fever. Other times, symptoms continue until friends or family stage some sort of intervention, or a storage/financial wakeup call occurs. Rehabilitation and/or therapy may be necessary for a return to 'pre-dulcimer discovery' normalcy.  🦠 🚑