I am retired and live in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania. I built my first mountain dulcimer in 1974. I continue to build mountain dulcimers, hammered dulcimers and do repair work on them as well as guitars and banjos. I enjoy old time music, bluegrass, and folk music from before and after the folk scare of the 1950s and 1960s.
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Latest Group Discussions
AllT - 6
This is my sixth teardrop dulcimer. The shape comes from plans by Scott...
@Ken Longfield 8 months ago - Comments: 12
Latest project - Prichard
I started to build a C.N. Prichard reproduction, but made a mistake...
@Ken Longfield 2 years ago - Comments: 9
Making wood tuning pegs
For those of us who make wood tuning pegs, what finish do you put on...
@Ken Longfield 2 years ago - Comments: 3
Current build
Here are some photos as I near the completion of this project. The...
@Ken Longfield 2 years ago - Comments: 15
Tuning peg knobs
I have a customer who is having the tuning pegs replaced on two of his...
@Ken Longfield 3 years ago - Comments: 23
Wood Choice - Food For Thought
I came across this experiment for classical guitars and found it...
@Ken Longfield 6 years ago - Comments: 13
The Ugly Dulcimer - A Story
Somewhere and at sometime someone decided to build a mountain dulcimer...
@Ken Longfield 4 years ago - Comments: 8
Repairing a Diamond Dulcimer
While this is not a build, we do not have a specific area to show...
@Ken Longfield 8 years ago - Comments: 17
PA German Zitter
Here are some photos of PA German zitter reproduction I'm making. There...
@Ken Longfield 5 years ago - Comments: 17
Not a Mountain Dulcimer
A few folks here at FOTMD know that I was working on a hammered...
@Ken Longfield 9 years ago - Comments: 9
A New "Old" Project
Back maybe 20 to 25 years ago, my sister was wandering through a yard...
@Ken Longfield 5 years ago - Comments: 2
Stanley Hicks article
Although not dulcimer specific, Stanley Hicks played a significant...
@Ken Longfield 6 years ago - Comments: 8
The Story of the Dulcimer, Second Edition
This is just a notice that it is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.
@Ken Longfield 7 years ago - Comments: 14
PA German Zitter
As I understand it, Jean Ritchie saw a PA German Zitter in the...
@Ken Longfield 7 years ago - Comments: 0
Old-time West Virginia bands
County Sales currently has these two CDs on sale for $7.00 each if...
@Ken Longfield 7 years ago - Comments: 1
Wartz Tab Book Corrections
In the Wartz tab book for the DAA "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms,"...
@Ken Longfield 8 years ago - Comments: 2
My First Prichard
It is not quite finished, but I thought I would share a photo of my...
@Ken Longfield 8 years ago - Comments: 14
J. E. Thomas Dulcimer #1465 played by Joe Collins
Here is a link to a video of Joe Collins playing my James E. "Uncle...
@Ken Longfield 8 years ago - Comments: 6
String tension calculations
Over at the Banjo Hangout I saw a posting for a string tension...
@Ken Longfield 8 years ago - Comments: 5
Latest Photos
AllLatest Forum Discussions
AllMike Clemmer
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Don Pedi honored
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Joni Mitchell and Mountain Dulcimers
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Zoom group invitation
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An Interesting News Story from West Virginia
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Bonnie Carol
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Newspaper Article
By: @Robin Thompson
Jon Pickow's last performance
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Sad News -- RIP Ralph Lee Smith
By: @Robin Thompson
Dr. George Orthey, Mountain dulcimer and...
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Anyone bidding"
By: @Susie
The New ED
By: @Ken Longfield
Guitar project
By: @Susie
Just For Fun - sayings regarding the...
By: @Strumelia
Sad News
By: @jeffrey charles foster
Capritaurus Dulcimer - Oh My!
By: @Robin Thompson
Hindman Dulcimer Homecoming
By: @Jan Potts
Ukulele construction
By: @Ken Longfield
Hindman, Kentucky
By: @John C. Knopf
Wayfaring Strangers
By: @Ron Larson2
Clifford Glenn
By: @Ken Longfield
For Old Time Music Fans
By: @Ken Longfield
Folk Music Resources
By: @Ken Longfield
A photo for Patty from Virginia
By: @Patty from Virginia
The Dulcimer in Eastern Kentucky Videos
By: @Rob N Lackey
2014 National Mountain Dulcimer Champions
By: @John Keane
Encyclopedia of Appalachia
By: @Ken Longfield
Comments
Thanks for the welcome. I am now waiting for a Ron Gibson cherry MD, I am really looking forward to exploring music with it.
Thanks so much for the warm welcome, and the kind comments on Dulcimer Radio and Sweetwater. Though it's pretty new, I think you many have just made my year! xox
Many thanks fo the welcome, Ken. I very much look forward to participating in the forum.
Thanks Ken! It is nice to have a fellow Pennsylvanian. I'm further east from you in Allentown, Pa.. My wife has family out your way in Allensville/Big Valley. We go to a family reunion every summer at the family farm. Brown and Metz are their names. Her grandfather married a Brown and his name was Ralston. He was a Presbyterian church planter.
I'm a Reference librarian and I have 9 kids so the dulcimer gives me an opportunity to unwind from the craziness. My wife gave me a Cedar Creek kit for Christmas and it turned out great. I can actually play a few tunes that to my ears sound great. Amazing Grace, Wild Mountain Thyme, Creag Ghuanach, She'll be coming Around the Mountain so far. I've found I really like the noter and drone so I'm sticking with that as I have no interest in trying to chord like guitar. It's interesting that just fretting the melody strings isn't popular or considered "beginner". I think from what I can tell that it is easy in the beginning or basic songs but getting the timing and nuance is really difficult since everything is dependent on that 1 or 2 strings. Once you progress and the songs are more complicated it becomes harder in a certain way. I still need to use little numbered stickers to help me find the frets and I'm a little slow since I still need to look at the sheet for the numbers. It's only been since early January but for someone with zero musical talent I'm very happy with how it's going. Tuning the dulcimer has proved to be the most confusing part. My instruction told me to push the 4th fret on bass string to tune to D or a sound you like. I have a tuner so the whole thing was confusing. So now I hope it's correct in that I didn't fret any strings but strummed them open to DAA on the electronic tuner. It sounds good. I had a 2nd melody string but took it off since I was having trouble keeping the noter flat on both. Now to work on my strumming since I can strum out well but back is difficult in rhythm. I also like to keep the noter depressed most of the time making that slide sound (it's some Italian name). That's probably not correct and in order to play certain songs I'll need to learn to pick up the noter off the string more aggressively. Since I have no musical knowledge when I see a song with a number and an underscore I have no idea what to do. If it says 5_5 I just assume that means to strum that number 5 twice very close and fast. Well you can probably tell I'm just starting out this journey.
Sorry for the long winded post but I appreciate the welcome and I'll probably have loads of questions for the members here. Take care!
Thank you for welcoming me here ! I'm looking forward to learning from you all.
Thank you Ken. I am looking forward to being a member of FOTMD and participating in the discussions. I am a beginner so it is quite interesting. Frank
I had one of those beasts in my shop for repair. The owner's brother broke the peg head off when they were teenagers. Thirty some years later he decided to have it fixed. I re-attached the peg head and he has been playing it ever since (about 7 or 8 years now). He bought a very nice shotgun case to keep it in.
You could have made it a 3 string by removing one string from each pair.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Not only is the Diamond dulcimer long, all the strings are doubled. I don't know what I was thinking when I purchased it. It is a beautifully finished instrument and I do enjoy the rich bright sound. That is what sold me on it, but I truly didn't know what I was doing when I bought it. Hopefully with conversations with folks like you and a few lessons and festivals, I should learn some things. Because of the doubled strings, the callouses on my left hand are coming right along.
Thank you, Ken. I just dusted off my 1976 Lucky Diamond dulcimer and am having fun. It's been hanging on the wall for a long time and I was surprised when I took it down that it was almost in tune. The tuners are wooden pegs and my arthritic hands can't handle them. My husband has to turn the pegs and push them in. So I am in the market for a more modern one with geared tuners that I can handle and more frets.
I had to put away my banjos which I have been playing for years because of--well--arthritis everywhere. But after multiple surgeries and joint replacements, I am back to music again. I have found the dulcimer easier to fret because of the angle of the fretboard.
I look forward to some good posts and conversations.
Caryl
Thanks for the warm welcome, Ken. I'm taking up the MD later in life and am just now awaiting delivery of my first instrument. Having played drums and percussion for a long time now, rhythm and timing is not an issue for me, but learning melodic theory is quite new to me (although I've played a bit of guitar and piano), so that's where I'm putting my attention while I await the dulcimer's arrival. Looking forward to learning from you folks.