An Old Dulcimer Gets A New Fretboard
Good Morning, Y'all - Happy Friday!
All kinds of happenings in the shop this week, as usual!
Customer's Dulcimer Gets A New Fretboard
Casey finished a "This fretboard is too long for me. Can you turn this dulcimer into a shorter scale instrument?" job.
Our customer found that the original 29 1/4" fretboard was too big for her hands, so we replaced the top 3/8" of her fretboard. Here's what the instrument looked like after we removed the frets, and the old fingerboard:
We left almost 1/2" of the original fretboard in place, and now you can see where the builder cut a big slot in the underside of the fretboard. You can even see the brace that bridges the two sides and the top of the instrument. Here's a closeup of the upper bout:
In this next photo, you can see just a bit (look for the lacquered area near the tail of the instrument) of the original finish in the strum hollow.
Once we had the old fretboard removed, we made up a new one. With a 25" scale length, it's now suitable for more contemporary chord-melody playing, and more importantly, contemporary playing for a person with smaller hands.
Here's the completed instrument (ignore the DulciVox in the top of the photo!):
And here's a closeup of the fretboard's side (pictured below). If you look really closely, you can see a slight difference in the grain of 50-year-old mahogany versus new mahogany:
All in all, this is a really straightforward job. Quite a bit of work, and a $350 shop bill, but worth it? Absolutely! The customer now has a wonderful sounding older dulcimer, but with a modern (perfect intonation) fretboard that fits her hands perfectly.
Black Mountain Music Festival
Many of you know about the Black Mountain Music Fest being canceled for this year. That's unfortunate, but totally understandable with the massive damage caused by hurricane Helene... The heavy rainfall in Black Mountain (home of the eponymous festival) wreaked all kinds of havoc on the festival venue, and Chuck Moseley (festival organizer) had to cancel this year's festivities. I was scheduled to see a LOT of you there - to deliver instruments, do repairs, and drop off books/strings/straps you had ordered ahead of time. I'll miss visiting with you all, for sure.
Next Event Where I'll Get To See Many Of You?
The Castaway Music Cruise. As of last count, there are only seven open spots left for attendees, so definitely sign up now, not later! Full information can be found here. Short synopsis? I'll be teaching classes on a giant cruise ship - along with Guy George, Sharrie George, and Bing Futch. We'll be touring the Bahamas for a week, departing from Port Canaveral, Florida, on February 22, 2025. It'll be fun. Join us!
About Those DulciVoxes...
It was about six months ago that we introduced the Folkcraft DulciVox dulcimers. They've been very (very!) well received, and we've made quite a few of them. We priced the DulciVox pretty low (even lower than a Folkcraft Custom Series instrument) for the first six months, so we could be sure to get them in players' laps early on. But now we're going to switch to a price that reflects the actual time and materials that go into one of these instruments.
A Folkcraft DulciVox Pro
Next Monday, the Folkcraft DulciVox will be getting new pricing: we'll be adding $300 to the retail price of the standard DulciVox, and $400 to the retail price of the DulciVox Pro. Our existing orders (there are still a handful of you waiting on instruments from the last couple of months!), and orders placed before Monday morning (October 14, 2024) will still get the old price.
After Monday morning, the retail price will more accurately reflect what it costs us to build the DulciVox. So if you're still "thinking" about it, now is a good time to put in your order!
We currently have a couple of DulciVoxes in stock. Here's a link. And here's a link to design your own DulciVox Standard, and here's a link to design your own DulciVox Pro.
KEANE KOLLECTION BOOK ON SALE THIS WEEK:
LULLABAYOU
By Karen Keane
Karen Keane's "Lullabayou" features some of the most beautiful, haunting melodies ever created for the mountain dulcimer. Perfect for fingerpickers or flatpickers, these tunes are sure to please! (48 pages)
On sale for 1/2 its regular price until next week. Also available (but not on sale) at DulcimerDownloads.com. CLICK HERE to download it.
This book is published by Folkcraft® Instruments, under the Fingers Of Steel® imprint.
Thanks for reading, Y'all. Keep the repair work coming to the shop, and we'll keep fixing/shipping your instruments - and sharing some of the interesting repair jobs here in the newsletter!
Sincerely,
Richard Ash - luthier-who's-sad-that-the-North-Carolina-festival-got-canceled-this-weekend-but-glad-he-can-stay-at-the-shop-and-make-some-more-sawdust
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: JESSIE OLDHAM
My first dulcimer was purchased from CapriTaurus in California. A bottom of the line, entry level, FolkRoots California large body. I'd heard Joni Mitchell's dulcimer on Blue and was intrigued. My mom pointed out that the dulcimer is mentioned in the book Christy, one we both enjoyed. I went to our local music shop in upstate NJ and the owner couldn't believe my request. That week he'd received a catalog from CapriTaurus. He'd never heard of a dulcimer. It was 1973. I cashed in my bond gifted when I was born, took my meager savings, and placed the order. Then I had a blow up with my dad, who didn't support the purchase, but the dust settled when it arrived. My dad heard me playing and knew it was a match.
My CapriTaurus dulcimer traveled from New Jersey, to California, to Florida, back to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and back to New Jersey over the course of many years. It took until about 12 years ago to finally treat myself to a better, California walnut body dulcimer, from Folkcraft. It was, and is, amazing! The overtones carry on seemingly forever. I've had to adjust to one extra fret, but I'm glad I decided to make the change.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE JESSIE & YOU!
HEY THERE - FUTURE FEATURED FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
No new Folkcraft Player to feature today, but we are happy to re-feature Jessie Oldham, and her mahogany & cedar dulcimers, today.
Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep This Thing Going?
It really is super-easy to join our online dulcimer community. Just three easy steps:
1) Reply to this newsletter email
2) With answers to the four questions below
3) Attach a photo of yourself with your Folkcraft dulcimer(s)
We look forward to hearing from you and featuring you in our newsletter real soon!
1. How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
2. When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
3. Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
4. What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing dulcimer?
FOR JUST A LITTLE WHILE LONGER WE'RE OFFERING A $25 FOLKCRAFT GIFT CARD TO ANYONE WHO ANSWERS THE FOUR EASY QUESTIONS LISTED ABOVE, AND SENDS IN A PHOTO (OF YOU WITH YOUR FOLKCRAFT DULCIMER)
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
This week we will learn to use a capo to easily play with other instruments, or in different keys. Have fun! Just click on the image below to watch.
We have a slew (that's a fancy luthier word for "bunch") of videos for you to watch on our YouTube channel. Click here to see the full list. Be sure to comment on a video, and subscribe to the channel - either action helps us a LOT with YouTube's suggestion algorithms.
MUSIC THEORY FOR MOUNTAIN DULCIMER
by Jim Miller
This book explains why we do what we do when we play. It covers scales, modes, intervals, chords, harmony, and inversions, and will help you become better at playing by ear.
This book is published by Jim Miller, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
