Speaking of Paul Pyle dulcimers, his wife, Martha Louella Martin Pyle was born in 1917 and died last year (2021) at the age of 103 (one month shy of her 104th birthday). The online obit had this to say about Paul and Louella, ""Together they also crafted over 1,600 Appalachian dulcimers."
What a lovely dulcimer!! You are a lucky feller. :)
You should know that this dulcimer has a purely traditional/diatonic fret pattern which does not include the usual modern 6 1/2 fret. This simply means it would be more suitable to play in DAA tuning in drone style, rather than in DAd in chording style.
Try tuning DAA and picking out some simple tunes on the melody string, like Mary Had a Little Lamb... with the tune ending on the third fret. Your third fret when fretted down would then produce the high D note, which would be your 'home' or Tonic key note.
Paul Pyle was one of the members of the dulcimer revival generation although one can't really call it a revival as much as a popularization of the instrument. Enjoy.
Paul Pyle has quite the reputation! He was loved by local folks and if I remember correctly had a club named after him. He has a pretty good write up in David Bennett's
I was given this for Christmas, and didn't know what I had until I got to examining it. This is a Paul Pyle dulcimer, #746 in fact. Guess it's time to stop "collecting" and learn how to play this thing.
Here's two interesting links about Paul's wife:
https://www.tullahomanews.com/louella-pyle-celebrates-102nd-birthday/article_23ebbcde-aa51-11e9-97d9-338c4ae5b9be.html
https://www.tullahomanews.com/news/local/pyle-survives-two-pandemics-passes-at-103/article_396df198-d37c-11eb-be0a-73318e9a33d9.html
She was one month shy of her 104th birthday when she passed.
Speaking of Paul Pyle dulcimers, his wife, Martha Louella Martin Pyle was born in 1917 and died last year (2021) at the age of 103 (one month shy of her 104th birthday). The online obit had this to say about Paul and Louella, ""Together they also crafted over 1,600 Appalachian dulcimers."
What a lovely dulcimer!! You are a lucky feller. :)
You should know that this dulcimer has a purely traditional/diatonic fret pattern which does not include the usual modern 6 1/2 fret. This simply means it would be more suitable to play in DAA tuning in drone style, rather than in DAd in chording style.
Try tuning DAA and picking out some simple tunes on the melody string, like Mary Had a Little Lamb... with the tune ending on the third fret. Your third fret when fretted down would then produce the high D note, which would be your 'home' or Tonic key note.
Enjoy your beauty!
Paul Pyle was one of the members of the dulcimer revival generation although one can't really call it a revival as much as a popularization of the instrument. Enjoy.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Paul Pyle has quite the reputation! He was loved by local folks and if I remember correctly had a club named after him. He has a pretty good write up in David Bennett's
https://heritagedulcimers.wordpress.com/today-in-mountain-dulcimer-history/timdh-april/
I was given this for Christmas, and didn't know what I had until I got to examining it. This is a Paul Pyle dulcimer, #746 in fact. Guess it's time to stop "collecting" and learn how to play this thing.