HOORAY!

John, I'm so glad that "Wren" got to your home safely, and that you like it.

Keep us in mind as you explore.

Just arrived !

You don't really appreciate how small and light these dulcimers are until you pick one up, lovely little things.
Not had a chance to give it a good going over yet, one of the frets has lifted a bit(just needs a tap), everything else looks fine, and the tuning pegs are nice and smooth. I'll take a look at what the best strings and tuning is later, think it may suit me better with slightly heavier strings, then see about getting it played in

Thanks so much John, I'm going to enjoy this.

P.S. Congratulations on the packing. I used to pack works of art for a living and yours was as good a soft shell job as any I've seen

Thanks for the offer, Phil, but I already have that book. It shows how to make a big violin-type dulcimer like Bill Davis made or Mike Clemmer currently makes. I like all the other body styles better, but may make one of these sometime.

I've got a book I know was saved from the fire we had this past winter. called "how to make and play the dalcimor" by Chet Hines. it's long out of print but I got lucky and my old copy still had the plans, full set that is. I can make you a copy of the plans if you would like.

Thank you very much, Phil. I'm glad others are building modern-day replicas as well. It's a kick to be able to put one of these critters together, and hear the same sounds that the hill folks heard those many years ago.

John you are doing some nice work on them replica's, bring the past back to life.

Hi John.

I think they stoped doing C.O.D. on the doorstep a while back, maybe you can go down to the depot and pay and collect from there. Either way, you still have to wait for the custom's notification, which is the main hold up. I'll do some clips if I ever find the mic again.

Hi Robin, a fortnight is about what I expected for a parcel, depends a lot on whether it has to go through customs or not. Doesn't make the wait any shorter though

I've had a jiffy bag from McS with some replacement tuner buttons that only took 4 days.

Have had exactly the same experience john, frustrating ain't it ! I am almost sure that I can remember them delivering to the door and having to pay then ? Anyway, look forward to hearing you play it (I'm enjoying the one I built!)

JohnH

Got the Customs notification through this morning, finally, so I've paid the bail.

It's been sitting just a couple of miles down the road for the last 5 days, should be delivered tomorrow.

Hooray !

The Wren has landed ***

Finally made it to the UK and going through Customs as we speak. Probably another week 'til it arrives though.

Seems to have spent the last week in Chicago. Same old story I expect - impressionable young mountain lad comes to the city, meets some cute little hourglass beauty, gets dazzled by all the mother of pearl and gazes longingly at her extra frets. Probably sitting in a darkened customs shed nursing a hangover and a touch of beakrot by now.

*** There's an old folktale of how the wren became 'The King of the Birds' by riding on the arrogance of the eagle. I think most cultures have a similar tale.

Thanks for the info, John. I was only going by the Thomas I owned and a few other pictures.

Ken,

Uncle Ed Thomas put the hearts in both ways, and sometimes used round holes or quarter moons.

He didn't standardize much.

Thanks for the comments, Debbie and Ken.

Debbie, I was aware of the Harwell connection, even going as far as to tell John Phillips about it when he suggested the name.

What a great guy Ernie was. The 2-man play is incredible, if you ever get a chance to see it.

John, you do such a nice job on your Thomas replicas. I wouldn't mind having one some day. Question - wondering why you didn't cut the hearts pointing "up" like on a Thomas..

Lol, sorry Patty, as you see, not directly influenced by me , down to another pair of john's !!! Nice to see increasing interest in mean tone fretting tho; just looked at the date inside the first dulcimer I built that way, 2001 !!!

JohnH

( I've not succeeded in downloading johnp's program yet?)

Looks great John, thank you so much

Of course, I'm itching to play it, but probably another week before it clears customs, etc.

Wrens have always been a favourite of mine, you don't really notice them much until they start to sing. Seeing one on a fence post in full song is an amazing sight.

Scruffy little things ain't they

John came up with a wonderfully appropriate verse to include :

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land"
Song of Solomon 2:12

I noticed in the Roasted Poplar thread where Pete Staehling uses the same name for his range of little travel dulcimers.

Just to clear up about the fret calculator being used, this is not an online calculator in the sense that it runs in your browser, you just download it and use it like any program on your computer (Windows only I'm afraid). That way you don't need an internet connection to run it.

You'll find it here :

Mean Tone calculator

I'm sure John will enjoy Wren very much