Cynthia, James & Carrie,

Thanks for the kind words. I had to learn it when I saw the title. That old instrument has become one of my "go to" instruments. In fact, despite its looks (or maybe because of them) it was one of the 2 I played on stage at the Patty Looman Festival. (The Keith Young was the other one.) I can't figure it out. As more folks seem to be adding frets to their dulcimers, I'm "taking off" frets from mine (not literally, just playing the pure diatonics more.) My 1st had the 6 1/2 like a lot of NC instruments so I've been used to it for all my dulcimer life. Oh well, who knows? Maybe it's just old age.

Mary,

"Chinese Breakdown" is an American fiddle tune, which is also similar to the Looney Tunes song, "The Merry Go Round Broke Down." This piece could be the basis of that tune, or an Irish fiddler's recollection of it (which was not quite right.) Yes, I buy (way too many) used dulcimers in various states of disrepair. I've discovered you can take wooden matchsticks, superglue them together and make "temporary" bridges to help figure out height, correct placement, etc. VSL (not vsi font made it confusing) is the length from the nut, or zero fret if the instrument has one, to the bridge.

Hope this helps,

Rob

Really, Really connected to that, Lackey. cool.

Great tune and playing Rob! Thank you kindly for sharing!

Very nice Rob .

Robin... yes, that reel just bounces along. it's an old dulcimer with just initials and a date, but I love the sound.

Patty... yes, finally! Stinson's #1 is coming; trust me. And also, maybe, a version of #2 that's closer to the original recording than most people play it.

Ken... thanks a lot!

Helen... I'll see what I can do about "more."

Many thanks everyone!

Very nice Rob. That's a great sounding instrument and a catchy tune.

Rob, I was wondering when you were going to play this for us. I remember you talking about it. It sounds great and you did an excellent job as usual!!! Thanks for posting. Now I'm waiting for John Stinson #1

That's a great bouncy tune Rob I love it!!! And that dulcimer looks pretty cool too!

Scott, this dulcimer ain't the Hughes. It's by an "unknown maker." Got some initials and a date in it. But as Wayne said, it has a voice!

Randy, Thank you, Sir. I hope I did it justice; at least I tried!

Karen, thank you very much!

You had to know this one huh Rob! Good tune, good find, like the way you play it!

Thanks Wayne. It's one of my favorites, too. Sometimes I'd like it to have a 6.5 fret, but I'm not going to add one; might take away some of the mojo! LOL

Hey, that was a good tune Rob. That Hughes has a nice tone to it also. I didn't look real close to the spelling in your title and thought you guys had a get together without me! Can't wait for October.

That's a great tune. You play it well!!!

Thank you John. Yeah, when I saw the title I had to learn it. I like to think some Irish fiddler named "Lackey" heard "Chinese Breakdown" and could only remember parts of it. He then cobbled together what he remembered with improvisations to make the reel complete. I'll probably do it over if can find time to make a real bridge for the Hughes.

That's a neat tune! I haven't heard it before, but I see what you mean about the similarity. Cool title for you! Nicely done!