Living & Loving Life In The Woods
Good Morning, Y'all & Happy Friday!
I've spent this week finishing off getting the last of the shop tools hooked up and running. I'm being very, very careful about electric usage. Our total service gives us 200 amps. That's for both cabins (me/Aly, and Dad), and the shop.
While 200 amps of capacity is pretty typical for "modern construction" homes, we also have a wood shop that has some power-hungry motors driving its tools. One of our "gotchas" has been that we put the workshop about 315 feet (a bit over a standard U.S. football field) back into the woods. We buried a power line from the cabins back to the wood shop.
The gotcha? Even with somewhat large wires, we are limited in our shop's electric capacity. There's power loss when electricity flows through a wire, and even with the ginormous (that's my word, not our electrician's) wire gauge, our shop is constrained to about eighty amps of continuous usage. We can use more power for a few seconds here or there, but overall we're limited to 80 sustained amps of power draw. (Electric motors often have a big "spike" in electric use, as the motor spins up to speed. But we don't have to worry too much about those short spikes, it's the electricity we use non-stop that's the bigger concern for our buried power line.)
Our solution? Batteries!
Seriously. There are companies that make "whole-house battery backup" systems, to help homeowners out when there's a power failure. I have one of those "whole-house battery backup" systems installed at the workshop, and we're using that system to power most of our tools. We have the battery backup system hooked up to the utility power grid to charge the batteries, but I've set the charge rate low enough that we're only using a few amps. The continuous slow-charging is good for our 80-amp power limit, and the battery bank gives us a lot more amps we can use continuously.
Between the battery system, and the utility power, we can use way more than 80 amps of electricity. A few of our thirstiest tools, power-wise (air compressor!) can't run on the batteries, but almost everything else is fine.
Harnessing The Power Of The Sun
Next summer (I have too many other things to finish off this fall already) I'll install some solar panels, and we can use the solar panels to charge our battery bank. Doing this will reduce our electric load (that's limited to 80 amps by the buried power line) even more.
There are probably some of you thinking "It would have been easier to put the workshop next to the cabin." It would have been easier, but I really like trees, and forests, and every morning I walk from home to the workshop. And enjoy the trees, and the fresh air, and the nice quiet forest. It's calming.
Sprucing Up The Place
Our road (from the cabins to the wood shop) was new about 15 months ago, and this week we got our final loads of rock (load after load of "six-inch minus," or "6-" if you want to sound knowledgeable to the quarry people), and then a top layer of crushed limestone (called "crusher run" by the quarry guys) to smooth things out.
Pictured below is the road I take every morning, and every evening - and often a number of times each day. This photo was taken standing outside our cabins, facing the shop:
You can see lots of bare dirt on either side of the road - that'll be filled in with ferns and wildflowers by next spring. The plants around here are pretty aggressive - they take any available space pretty quickly. Most of the Ents are slower than the small plants, but we'll have our share of maple and pine seedlings along the path pretty soon, too.
One more "wood" photo, then I'm going back to work in the shop. Aly and I found this cute guy not far from our cabin:
I'm pretty sure he's an eastern fox snake, but maybe one of you might be able to confirm this? He watched us go by, but didn't seem at all threatened.
If I had to guess, I would say that our snake was about six-feet-long, but I didn't pick him up to measure.
Now I'm heading back to the shop. I have heads and fretboards to make today.
Have a great weekend, Y'all - Go play your dulcimers!
Richard Ash - luthier-who-really-hopes-you-all-get-the-"Ent"-reference
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: CALEB MORRIS
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Caleb: I started playing in 2020. My grandpa gave me one after I became interested in them. I loved the sweet melodic sound I heard. I mainly listened to Bing Futch playing and teaching. He made the dulcimer so accessible and straightforward. I was able to quickly learn noter/drone style. With his videos on chord shapes, I was able to learn to play harmony and chords as well. I started playing 1-5-5 tuning due to one of his videos on it. I encourage others to look up his videos on the topic and try out that tuning if they haven’t yet.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Caleb: My first Folkcraft dulcimer was bought by my grandpa at a yard sale. He didn’t know what it was and neither did the lady who was selling it. She had $5 on it. My grandpa said, “Being as we both don’t know what it is, I’ll give you $3.” So, he ended up with a teardrop Folkcraft dulcimer built in 1985. In 2020, he learned what the instrument was after I showed him pictures of mountain dulcimers. He let me take it home, and after learning to play it that year, I tried playing alongside other instruments. The dulcimer was sweet but quiet. It was hard to be heard over even a single guitar. So, I temporarily attached a piezo pickup to the top and ran it to an amp. Finally in 2024, I upgraded. I bought a custom walnut MaxDAD with a Galax performance back and Fishman pickup. I highly recommend the Fishman pickup with a preamp. I use a Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge so I can take it camping or to other outdoor venues and be heard right alongside the banjo.
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
Caleb: I love playing outside listening to the birds while I play. It’s very peaceful. I also play with friends and family. They play the...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF CALEB'S INTERVIEW AND READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE CALEB & YOU
FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!
No new player (Alas!) to add to our online dulcimer community today, but we are glad to re-feature another multi-instrumentalist, and woodworker, too, Caleb Morris. Caleb first joined the Folkcraft family in September of 2024. Build that fretless mountain banjo yet, Caleb?
There's still plenty of room for more of you, folks! Maybe we could feature you and your Folkcraft dulcimer(s) next week?
Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep The Family 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?
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). IT'S REALLY SO EASY TO DO!
WE JUST LOVE HEARING FROM Y'ALL!
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
This week we will learn the values of our most used notes, then we will dive into using our metronomes! (handout is provided for you below) Have fun! Click on the image below to listen & learn.
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.
And from our "But Wait, There's More!" department we have a couple of follow-up books from two of our dulcimer community's best players and instructors. One will broaden your skill set (Aaron's book) and the second will broaden your tune repertoire (Butch's book). Can't go wrong with either, or both, of these great dulcimer collections! (Just click on either cover to download.)
MASTERING VARIATIONS - Volume 2
by Aaron O'Rourke
Learn rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic variations for seven common tunes that are likely to be played in dulcimer clubs and at festival jams. In "Mastering Variations, Volume 2," Aaron O'Rourke arranges each tune into four variations: Rhythmic, Melodic, Harmonic, and All-Put-Together. A basic version of each tune is also provided to help get you started.
As part of your download, we've included a folder with 28 tracks - recordings of Aaron demonstrating the various tunes. (All tunes in DAD tuning - 65 pages)
13 MORE GREAT TUNES THAT SERIOUSLY (ALMOST) NOBODY PLAYS
by Butch Ross
Butch Ross has come across a few "more" tunes he really loves. And as usual, these are tunes that you don't hear very often. Well really, almost never. Sometimes that's because they're a bit challenging to play, but mostly because they are a bit obscure.
Almost all of the tunes are in D and DAD tuning. But if a tune is commonly played in another key, a version in its traditional key also appears in the book.
Expand your repertoire with these 13 More Great Tunes That Seriously (Almost) Nobody Plays. Audio (demo tracks by Butch) files are also included! (38 pages)
These books are published by Fingers Of Steel, and are made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SONGS INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK:
Mississippi Sawyer
Rock The Cradle Joe
Saint Anne's Reel
Sandy River Belle
Seneca Square Dance
Soldier's Joy
Whiskey Before Breakfast
SOME OF THE SONGS INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK:
Apple Blossom
Big Scioty
Old Billy Hell
Billy In The Lowground
Grumbling Old Man, Growling Old Woman
Hell Up 9 Mile
Little Rabbit
Roscoe
The Salvation