East Bound And Down
Good Morning, Y'all:
Happy Friday, and thank you for subscribing to our weekly newsletter!
This has been another one of "those" weeks in our wood shop. Snow and ice gave us some days with some of our staff unable to make it to the shop. Partly because of bad roads, and partly from school cancellations/parental responsibilities. But we've been plugging away at the backlog of dulcimers, and even finished off a couple more instruments for our website/showroom inventory.
To Ohio
I'm going to a festival tomorrow, the Dayton (Ohio) Dulcimer Doin's. Yes, that's spelled correctly. I suspect it's like that festival in Mount Dora (Florida) that's an "autohop" festival. Tradition!
I'll have a good selection of dulcimers on hand (in Maria Stein, Ohio) on Saturday, February 15, 2025. If you want to stop in and check out the display, you're welcome to do so - and let me know if there's anything in particular you want me to bring to the festival. I'll be loading the van on Friday night, so you have a few hours, still, to give me your wish list...
We always like making dulcimers for people, but I find it especially nice when an instrument is for a fellow Ohio State (aka The Ohio State University) alumnus. This MaxDAD is heading to a kind of (ha!) famous hammered dulcimer virtuoso (who also plays mountain dulcimer, trumpet, whistle, and a slew of other instruments):
Our MaxDAD dulcimers have five strings, and are tuned DADAD. They're a combination of a standard DAD dulcimer and a bass DAD dulcimer, with the middle string being in common between the standard and the bass. Very versatile. This particular instrument has a walnut body, with an Eastern red cedar top.
Making More Dulcimer Tops
And on the other end of the dulcimer spectrum, I've been making dulcimer tops. Out of corrugated paper (cardboard, to many of you, but technically it is "corrugated paper"). The cardboard dulcimer pieces are laser cut, and while it isn't a lot of labor to put into a piece of cardboard (ahem, corrugated paper, Richard!), it is an interruption to my regular work. It takes our laser cutter about 35 minutes to cut a set of three tops (that's what fits on a 2' x 3' piece of cardboard corrugated paper). Every 35 minutes, the machine beeps, and asks for a fresh piece of material. This week tops, next week backs, or sides, or side guides, or some of the smaller internal pieces. I love working with wood, and being creative, but making corrugated dulcimer (got it right this time!) parts is tedious. It isn't objectionable work, but I would rank it about the same as sweeping up sawdust. I'm happy doing it, but it isn't a job that brings joy to my day!
New Load Of Lumber
We got in our monthly "big load" of lumber yesterday. The semi-truck with our new lumber (mostly walnut, plus some Sitka spruce, and some maple, this month) arrived about 9 AM, then Casey and I carried planks to the wood shop, one at a time, while Cheyenne cut the planks into 32-inch lengths. Here's a stack of two-inch thick walnut boards:
It took the three of us just about three hours to process the load of lumber pictured above. We've done this before, and we're pretty efficient with our time, but it was a lot of lumber. You don't see the "other" stacks of 32-inch pieces here - the rest of the walnut, or the maple, or the spruce. I was ready for a break by the time we finished, for sure!
You can see the tall stack in the foreground, with some smaller stacks of walnut in the background, plus a nice batch of 32-inch cherry pieces in the upper left of this photo.
And just for fun, here's a photo of "pale Richard," next to the stack of walnut planks. The next time you see me, I'll be all tanned from the sun, because I'm teaching dulcimer on a music cruise in the Bahamas in a couple of weeks. Co-instructors? Bing Futch, Guy George, and Sharrie George. It's going to be fun - and I'll try to get lots of photos for you!
But meanwhile, the shop needs sweeping, and the laser cutter just beeped. Time to put in a fresh piece of corrugated paper, and then see if I can spend a couple of minutes behind a broom.
Thanks for reading, Y'all - have a great weekend. Go play some dulcimer music!
Richard Ash, luthier-who's-comfortable-with-both-high-technology-laser-cutters-and-low-technology-push-brooms
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: NANCY DOWNIE
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Nancy: I started playing hammered dulcimer in Michigan in 1998 and soon was going to festivals, such as Evart and Buckeye, where I was introduced to mountain dulcimers. I bought one and played around with it a little, but didn’t get serious about it until a few years after we moved to Oregon in 2005. I always considered myself a HD player, but as I gained MD skills I gravitated to it more. It was easier to carry around, had a lovely sound all its own, and didn’t require that everything be memorized! I especially enjoyed attending the Menucha Dulcimer Festival and Dulcimers in the Wallowas.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Nancy: A year ago we downsized and moved to a retirement community. Downsizing included “thinning the herd” of instruments a bit, and I never thought I’d buy another dulcimer. However, when I heard about the Folkcraft DulciVox, I knew I had to have one, even though I am rarely an “early adopter” of anything. My DulciVox is everything that I hoped it would be.
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
Nancy: Although I enjoy almost all kinds of music, I particularly like meditative, fingerpicked chord-melody playing (Nina Zanetti wanna-be!). I am a Certified Music Practitioner and have played in many health care settings. I also enjoy playing for religious services (including Taize) and for our retirement community. My husband plays stand-up bass and for many years we gave programs at historical venues such as the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.
Folkcraft: What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing the dulcimer?
Nancy: I have played classical violin since elementary school and am a member of Trillium Baroque, a community baroque ensemble. In my “other life," I enjoy knitting, crocheting and other needlework, my family, my black kitty, Velvet, and trying to learn Spanish on Duolingo.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE NANCY & YOU!
HELLO FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!
We are delighted to welcome Nancy Downie to our online global dulcimer community today! Welcome to the family, Nancy!
Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep The Family Album Growing?
It really is super-easy to join our online dulcimer community. Just three easy steps:
1) Send an email to: newsletter@folkcraft.com
2) With the answers to the four questions below
3) Attach a photo of yourself with your Folkcraft dulcimer(s)
We look forward to receiving your submission & 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:
Let’s have some fun moving between "D" and "G". Just a few chord changes with some extra bits thrown in. You will need a 1.5 fret for this (but don’t 'fret' - next week we’ll do it sans that extra fret). You've got this! 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.
GRACE
by Dana Gruber
Do you need some new arrangements for church? Or an upcoming Easter program? Take a look at the book by Dana Gruber. Aptly titled, "Grace," this is a collection of hymns and reflective songs arranged and tabbed for mountain dulcimer, with accompanying guitar chords. Bring a peaceful and contemplative atmosphere to your music with this versatile, and beautifully arranged, collection from Dana Gruber. (55 pages)
This book is published by Fingers Of Steel, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SOME OF THE SONGS INCLUDED:
Amazing Grace (3 Variations) • Be Thou My Vision • Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing • How Can I Keep From Singing (Melody & Accompaniment Parts) • Just A Closer Walk With Thee (Melody, Bass & Chord Parts) • Largo (Melody & Harmony Parts) • Morning Has Broken • O Sacred Head, Now Wounded • Simple Gifts (Melody & Harmony Parts) • Sweet Hour Of Prayer (Melody & Harmony Parts) • Take Your Shoes Off Moses • The Old Country Church • There Is A Fountain • Wings Of A Dove