Love You Like A Mango
Good Morning, Y'all
Happy Friday! It was nice to be away from the shop - on a big boat, with a bunch of dulcimer friends. But it is sure nice to be back at Folkcraft, with my (other!) dulcimer friends, too. Getting back into the routine, with making instruments? Awesome!
Mango, Mango
Last week I shared a mango wood dulcimer on Facebook, and I'm going to share some more with our newsletter audience today. We have two of these instruments getting close to finished. I should have them both up on the Folkcraft.com website by next week.
I'll start with a close-up of the side, showing the really neat grain pattern of the lumber:
This particular instrument is now fully-lacquered (as of yesterday), and after a few more days of letting the lacquer fully harden, I'll rub out (sandpaper lightly, followed by steel wool, lubricated so it is really gentle on the lacquer) the finish.
Here's a back view:
Definitely some of the curliest wood I've ever worked with!
We picked two different sound hole designs for these two dulcimers. Our "Classic F" and our "Sun, Moon, Stars." I'm guessing that Y'all can tell which is which!
Both instruments have a 1 3/8" wide fretboard, a 25" VSL, and have the diatonic fret pattern with the 1.5, 6.5, 8.5, 13.5, and 15.5 frets added.
Sound-wise I'm going to guess somewhere between walnut and Honduras mahogany. Just based on the density of the wood, the grain pattern, and the way it sounds when tapping the body. It's pretty resonant, and seems like it'll have a great sustain. I'll let you know in two weeks.
You Can Have A Listen On YouTube
There will be demonstration videos online, found on the Folkcraft Instruments YouTube channel. If you click the link below, you can subscribe for free, and even ask YouTube to send you a notification whenever I upload a new video.
I sure hope these dulcimers don't sound awful. We spent way too much money on this lumber to have mediocre instruments!
Thanks for reading, Y'all - have a great weekend!
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: JUNE DAY
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
June: I was first introduced to the mountain dulcimer in 2014 while on vacation in Tennessee. My husband and I decided to explore the Great Smoky Arts & Crafts Community, a series of shops and galleries along an 8-mile loop just outside of Gatlinburg. I had never even heard of a mountain dulcimer before, but there was a shop there that made them. We walked up to talk with the gentleman at the counter, and he said, “I can teach you to play this instrument in 5 minutes!” I was intrigued and tried it out, and amazingly I could play that mountain dulcimer in just a couple of minutes! But I decided against getting one on that day because I was concerned it may be just a vacation whim, and I didn’t want to play it for just a couple days and then stick it in a closet somewhere. But after returning home, I couldn’t get that instrument out of my mind. Months later, my husband gifted me with a mountain dulcimer for my birthday, and it quickly became an enduring passion of mine.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
June: After playing that first dulcimer for a couple years, I had figured out some specifics that I would want in an “ideal” dulcimer. So, in 2016, my husband and I took a trip to visit several dulcimer shops in the midwest to pick out a new dulcimer. Folkcraft was one of those shops, and I fell in love with the sound, beauty, playability, and quality of the Folkcraft dulcimers. After spending a couple hours in the shop with Richard Ash, we custom-ordered one that had all the features that I wanted. I named my new dulcimer "Bonnie" because she's so pretty with the heart vine design and because I love Celtic music. She's got walnut back and sides, butternut top, ebony fretboard, the modern headstock, and the Fishman pickup and preamp. She's been a wonderful dulcimer!
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
June: So my life has become very dulcimer-ful! After playing and performing with a couple of different groups over the years, I now lead a mountain dulcimer group called, “Dogwood Mountain Dulcimers” here in Springfield. We have an open jam every 1st Tuesday of the month at the Library Center. I also teach a beginner/developing mountain dulcimer group every 4th Tuesday at the same location. Then, on 2nd and 3rd Tuesdays...
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF JUNE'S INTERVIEW AND ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE JUNE & YOU!
DEAR FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!
We are delighted to welcome June Day to our online global dulcimer community today. Welcome to the family, June!
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!
This Week's Featured YouTube Video:
Not sure how to change strings on a scroll head dulcimer? Either your own, or maybe the lovely, new maple dulcimer featured in this week's newsletter? Mandy will take you through it step-by-step. She'll show you how to do a string change, and cleanup, on a scroll head dulcimer. You can do it! 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.
PLAY PRETTY
by Dana Gruber
Here's another hybrid songbook/teaching book from the renowned performer and instructor, Dana Gruber. We've listed the song, along with the technique she's illustrating (in parentheses) below. All songs are in DAD tuning, unless otherwise noted. (40 pages)
This book is published by Fingers Of Steel, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
SONGS & TECHNIQUES LISTING:
Aura Lee (Legato And 7th Chords)
Red Is The Rose (Fill Bass Notes)
Dixie (Playing With Feeling)
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes (Turns)
Greensleeves (Using A Capo) - Capo 1
I Gave My Love A Cherry (Using A Capo) - Capo 3
All Things Are Quite Silent (Turns)
Gentle Annie - Stephen Foster (Seventh/Bridge Chords)
Scarborough Fair (Flat-Picking)
Do You Love An Apple (Syncopation)
Down By The Sally Gardens (Hammer-On)
Shenandoah (Musical Dynamics)
I Gave My Love A Cherry (DGD Tuning)
Farewell To Liverpool (aka Leaving Of Liverpool) (Slides & Pull-offs)
Dixie (Enhanced Version) (Utilizing The Middle String For Melody)
Greensleeves (Enhanced Version) (Arpeggiating/Fingerpick Style/Harmonics)
House Of The Rising Sun (Using A Capo/Playing Above The 7th Fret) - Capo 4