Pecan & Purpleheart Make Great-Looking Dulcimers
Good Morning, Y'all
Happy Friday! I say that every week, and while it might sound like "Oh yay, I don't have to work for two whole days," nothing could be further from the truth. My job is awesome (thanks to you all) and I've spent the past four days being productive with my hands and my brain, plus spending time with some really great people.
I could just as easily say "Happy Tuesday!" or "Happy Sunday!" Sharing my week with friends? Happy-making, for sure.
So... Happy Friday!
Production Schedule Report
We're starting to gain on the backlog of dulcimer orders! We'll easily have all of the "promised for Christmas" instruments out the door in the next few weeks, and we'll likely have a good number of the "ordered in September, promised in January" instruments in your laps for the holiday, too. Dad, Casey, and Cheyenne have been diligently slaving away in the shop, cutting, sanding, lacquering, and setting up, and it shows in the (slowly gaining on it!) reduced backlog of orders.
Thank you, all, for being so patient with us!
Dad's been working on fretboards a lot this week. Here's a stack of in-progress fretboards:
From near-to-far (I'll tell you about three of the fretboards in the above photo):
Black walnut, with an ebony veneer
African mahogany, no veneer
Black walnut, no veneer
The two nearest fretboards don't have position dots yet. But you can see the holes where we'll put the dots, though.
At this point (see photo above), we've glued the ebony veneer to the black walnut fingerboard, cut the slots for the frets, and cut the holes for the mother of pearl position dots, but we haven't yet installed the position dots.
After we get the dots in place, we'll sand the fretboard smooth, then add the frets, then... (I'm going to stop now. There are probably another dozen steps to having a fretboard that's ready to attach to a top!)
Build Me A Dulcimer Out Of Pecan, Please
We had a local customer stop by yesterday with a plank of pecan wood. Similar in density to walnut, but a lighter color. The lumber came from a tree on a relative's farm, and it is gorgeous! The customer asked us to make a dulcimer from the pecan wood, and we happily said "yes." So, at this point, we've started cutting up the material. It's a bit damp, so we'll let it sit and dry for a month or two before we get started on the actual assembly.
Here's some of the pecan wood, cut to dulcimer (32") lengths:
Keep in mind that you'll have to look past "ugly" and "knots" and "water stains," and imagine what this'll look like cut down, sanded, lacquered, and rubbed out. We'll work around the knots and cracks - our first step before cutting anything was to mark the wood's flaws with a red pencil - and use the best of the wood to build a beautiful dulcimer.
We get commissions like this (wood harvested from a downed tree that has sentimental value) pretty often. It's a nice way to remember a place, or a person. (Don't bring us any lumber from the Petrified Forest, though - you'll probably be arrested trying to leave the park, and that particular wood wouldn't make a great sounding dulcimer, anyway!)
One More Dulcimer To Show You
I did want to share one more instrument with you this week - a gorgeous purpleheart-bodied spruce-topped standard dulcimer:
Purpleheart body with spruce top? Sounds awful! But it isn't. We've made a number of instruments with this wood combination over the years, and they've invariably sounded great. The Woodburn Dulcimer Club (Woodburn, Indiana - the club that meets at the Folkcraft shop every Tuesday evening) has a player with a purpleheart/spruce dulcimer, and I got to sit next to it (and its player) for two hours this week. Its big, lively tone - with plenty of warmth - contrasted nicely with my (on the bright side) Honduras mahogany/Engelmann spruce dulcimer.
Here's the back side:
This Week's On Sale Book
This Shelley Stevens book is on sale at a HUGE discount! Regularly $17, on sale for a few days at less than $4.00. Why? Because I have limited space for books (a lot of you have seen our shop/sewing/room/warehouse area/concert hall - it's big, but not big enough!). And as of last count, we have 79 copies of this book in our inventory. I would be happier with 20 copies, so they're on sale. Stock up now, Y'all!
Thank you all for reading. Have a great (and hopefully music-filled) weekend!
Richard Ash - luthier-who-has-Shelley's-book-shown-above-in-his-personal-library-already-and-doesn't-need-another-copy!
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: SHARON SEARS
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Sharon: I've been playing for about 12 years.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Sharon: I got my first Folkcraft dulcimer in 2016, the week after Steve passed. It was one of the last instruments that Steve (Richard's brother) made. It's beautiful and sounds wonderful. I'm grateful to have it.
Sharon: I like playing my dulcimer everywhere and anywhere. I enjoy times I play alone, as well as any workshop, jam, festival, or get together.
Folkcraft: What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing the dulcimer?
Sharon: I enjoy swimming, bike riding, concerts, festivals, fish keeping, church, friends, traveling, ukulele, and mandolin.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MORE FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE SHARON & YOU!
HELLO FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - COME JOIN THE FAMILY
We are thrilled to welcome Sharon Sears to our online global dulcimer community 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) 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 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’ll do a string change and cleanup on your flat-head dulcimer. Mandy will take you through it step-by-step. You can do it! 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.
STRUMMER'S DELIGHT
by Mandy Tyner
This book is for beginners to start with traditional DAA tuning on the mountain dulcimer. Players will have 16 tabbed arrangements that can be played and strummed with either a noter or your fingers. The 17th arrangement is a multi-finger, chord song. You will be strumming within minutes with this beginner book. (30 pages)
SONGS INCLUDED:
Boil Them Cabbage Down 1 & 2 • Twinkle Twinkle Little Star • Skip To My Lou • Mary Had A Little Lamb • This Old Man • Angeline The Baker • Nothing But The Blood • When The Saints Go Marching In • Cripple Creek • Leaning On The Everlasting Arms • Go Tell Aunt Rhody • Oh Susanna • Up On The Housetop • Chicken Fer Supper (Original Song) • Farther Along • Hush Little Baby (Multi-finger)