Our First Second Saturday Clinic Is Next Weekend!
Good Morning, Y'all!
Here we are with the last newsletter of May. Wow? It seems like just yesterday that I said "Happy New Year."
Our first Second Saturday Clinic is next weekend! We've been busy, as usual, trying to get things ready for our summer events. We'll kick things off with Mandy Tyner's Second Saturday Clinic in June, and we'll follow Mandy's clinic up with Bing Futch's Second Saturday Clinic in July. Are you signed up yet?
We were originally planning on attending Kentucky Music Week in between Mandy and Bing's "in house" events, but with KMW being held in a smaller venue, it didn't work out for us to attend this year. I have a bunch of you with scheduled repairs or dulcimer deliveries for KMW week, and I'll be contacting you directly, so we can make alternate arrangements.
This week's Shelley Stevens Book On Sale. And (a LOT of you have been taking advantage of this, and thank you!) here's this week's Shelley Stevens book that I have WAY too many of on the shelf: Baker's Dozen #4: Shaker Music. Discounted from the usual $12 from now until next Friday.
Dad and Cheyenne finished off the cardboard kit order, and Cheyenne got it packed up and on the way (UPS!) last Friday. The teacher called and added more instruments to the order late last week, and we ended up shipping 90 (ninety!) cardboard kits to one school for a 4th grade summer enrichment program. Hopefully we'll have a few photos of the new dulcimer players to share in a few weeks!
When I went back and checked on Pam this morning, she was sewing away - making cases as usual. But this morning (and maybe all day?) she's been making straps. Cutting webbing to length, folding leather ends, and sewing both the folded leather and the webbing itself to our quick release buckles. Pam has thread to match all of our webbing colors - big giant spools of thread:
Each spool is about nine inches tall - perfect for our industrial sewing machines, but way too big to mount on most home machines.
Dad's been working on LAP-JOs. Nothing new there. He's made most of our LAP-JOs the past few years!
Cheyenne (left) has been working on a customer's dulcimer. In the photo above, he's fixing the cracked top and broken sides from a recent fall (the dulcimer, not the customer!). Work some glue into the cracks, clamp overnight, sand smooth, reinforce the inside of the instrument with thin strips of wood so the crack doesn't come back in the future, lacquer, and then reinstall all the hardware and strings.
If you look in the foreground, you can see two black cylinders, and a yellow cylinder. The yellow cylinder is wood glue, we have similar bottles of glue all over the shop. The two black cylinders? Insulated thermoses full of Cheyenne's coffee!
Casey (right) is still making up DulciVoxes. In the photo above, you can see that Casey has a DulciVox fretboard in his hands. He's removing the rough spots on the bottom of the fretboard, which got left by the router when it removed a lot of the fretboard material. Definitely not something that affects the tone or the looks of the finished instrument, but there's the principle involved with this step!
Last week I (Richard) finally finished off the binding of Shelley's books, and have been working on customer instrument repair work. Lots to do, but having Pam, Dad, Cheyenne, and Casey? Awesome.
And speaking of awesome...
I hope you all have amazing weekends. Full of music. Thanks for reading, Y'all!
Richard Ash, luthier-who-gets-to-hang-out-with-great-people-every-day
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: BUTCH WHEASLER
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Butch: I've been playing for about 13 years after hearing one at a festival.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Butch: I had a couple starters before I bought this cherry custom from Gary Sager of Prussia Valley Dulcimer some 8 years ago.
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
Butch: I play with whomever will have me. I play frequently at our booth at a local flea market where we sell my woodworking and art.
Folkcraft: What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing dulcimer?
Butch: My other hobby is woodworking. When I got to combine the two with first solid body electric dulcimers. The maple and cherry on the left (in the photo) is my first. Intonation problems prompted a call to Richard who suggested a fretboard from them, which is the walnut and Osage orange on the right. Old Reliable on my lap with one of my antler capos.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS
FUTURE FEATURED FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE'RE STILL WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU!
While we're tickled to re-feature Butch this week, it would sure be nice to hear from someone new! It's been a minute. All guilt-tripping aside, Who's Going To Write In Next? Keep This Thing Going? It really is super easy to get in on the fun. Just send the answers to the four questions below - plus a photo of you with your Folkcraft dulcimer(s) - by replying to your newsletter email. 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 A LIMITED TIME ONLY, 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’ll revisit the song London Bridge and add some notes! Beginners sometimes have problems figuring out “how to" go about this. Mandy will show you an easy-to-follow process of how to add some notes to any melody. Have fun! Just click on the image below to watch the video.
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.
SONG BY SONG, VOLUME ONE
by Aubrey Atwater
Discover the delightful world of old-timey string music with Aubrey Atwater's "Song By Song, Vol. I"! This book gives you a BUNCH of old-time favorites for mountain dulcimer, banjo, whistle, guitar and voice. Get ready to be transported to a magical place of soulful tunes and timeless melodies - no shifty-eye-ing allowed! With its unique blend of humor and talent, this book will make you feel like you're strumming along with Aubrey herself. You ain't seen nothin' yet - so get pickin' and grinnin'! (132 pages)
With your purchase, we'll email you a link so that you may download the PDF version of your new book. The PDF file is in ZIP format - you'll need to unzip the file after your download is complete.
