The Dulcimer Doc Goes On A Rant
Good Morning, Y'all & Happy Friday!
We've had a lot going on this week. Several new instruments went out the door - that's several people who are no longer waiting on their custom-order dulcimers. Woo-Hoo! I've also worked on a few dulcimers in need of repairs. It seems like this month has brought me a lot of fretwork on older dulcimers - frets too high, or too low. Or even in the wrong places. Fixing "high" or "low" is pretty routine. I have lots of practice, and all the possible tools I could need to do the work.
Stay Away From The Violin Guy
Frets in the wrong place? Please, folks - stop taking your dulcimers to violin shops to have fretwork done! I had another one of "the violin guy installed my new fret in the wrong place" jobs again. When you have a 1.5 and 6.5, and ask the violin guy (this applies to guitar repair shops, too) for an 8.5 fret, they're going to count frets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. And put the fret between 8 and 9, every time. But they never seem to understand that an instrument has a 1.5 and a 6.5 already, so they put the new 8.5 fret somewhere near fret 10.
The dulcimer is weird about frets, I know. But please, just stop letting people who don't know our instrument, at least at a rudimentary level, add frets. I don't go to my auto mechanic to have dental work done, and I don't go to my piano tuner to have new tires put on my van. Just saying!
Enough ranting. Until my next "violin guy" fret repair. (I was able to successfully fix the instrument, though. I had to pull out the new/wrong fret, and fill in the slot. I used finely ground ebony sawdust mixed with CA glue. It works, and will hold up just fine, but the repair is visible, even though it can't be felt by touch.
Here's a less-avoidable repair we completed this week. An older - 2008 - Folkcraft, with a Kentucky-style body. Walnut back and sides, with a Western red cedar top. This dulcimer was probably dropped - it had a four-inch crack along the joint between the sides and the top.
Wenge fretboard veneer on the recently repaired 2008 Folkcraft
You can see, near the head, on the audience side of this dulcimer, that there's a part of the top that's a bit lighter in color. That's where we had to sand the top a bit, after repairing the crack. As we sanded off the top layer (a few thousandths of an inch, not much more than that) the Western red cedar began to show its non-aged lower layer. It took 17 years for the patina to develop on the upper layer of the cedar, but most of that darkening took place in the first couple of years. My guess is that, by 2027 or 2028, this repair will be totally invisible, since the newly exposed cedar will darken to match the 2008 portions of the top.
Beautiful Bearclaw
I wanted to show you this top on a new dulcimer (heading to Beth S. in a couple of weeks). This DulciVox ended up with a spectacular piece of Sitka spruce (which grows a bit in Washington state, some more in British Columbia, Canada, and mostly near Sitka, Alaska).
Here's a photo:
Bearclaw Spruce top
Look at this Sitka spruce top, especially between the bridge and the end of the fretboard. Do you see the horizontal variations in the Sitka top? This is called "bearclaw." Bearclaw is common in Sitka spruce, but it is rare to see a top with this much of that figure. And usually there's just a little of this desirable pattern. This DulciVox got a piece of spruce with bearclaw curls all over the top, even next to the fretboard. It's gorgeous!
Bearclaw in Sitka spruce is the equivalent of "curl" in a hardwood. It doesn't affect the tone in any significant way, but it looks really nice.
New Dulcimer Books In Stock
And speaking of nice, Folkcraft has now acquired a selection of dulcimer books written by Maureen Sellers. Maureen has nine really nice titles in print, and now Folkcraft is the publisher. Here's a link to Maureen's Catalog of Dulcimer Books. There are two instruction books, and seven song books. Good stuff!
And now, I need to go rub out a couple more dulcimers. Rubbing out is the process of using steel wool and polishing compound to make a freshly-lacquered dulcimer feel smooth to the touch, almost like glass. Some places call this a "hand-rubbed finish." Rubbing out is a very physically demanding job! It makes my right arm ache, but it is absolutely worth it when you get to feel the smooth finish of one of our dulcimers.
Thanks for reading, Y'all - have a great weekend!
Richard Ash - dulcimer-builder-whose-right-arm-is-bigger-than-his-left-arm-because-of-all-the-sanding-and-rubbing-out-of-dulcimers-giving-him-mismatched-arms-like-a-lobster
FOLKCRAFT® DULCIMER PLAYER OF THE WEEK: LISA DRIVER
Folkcraft: How long have you been playing the dulcimer?
Lisa: I've been playing the dulcimer for almost 5 years.
Folkcraft: When did you get your first Folkcraft dulcimer?
Lisa: I got my first Folkcraft dulcimer in October 2022
Folkcraft: Where do you enjoy playing your dulcimer?
Lisa: Our dulcimer group enjoys playing at nursing homes, churches and the hospital. In March we will play at the fairgrounds for their annual home show.
Folkcraft: What other hobbies, or interests, do you have besides playing the dulcimer?
Lisa: My other hobbies include crocheting, crafting, reading, teaching cardio dance, playing piano, singing at church and in the Lima Symphony chorus.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT OTHER FOLKCRAFT PLAYERS LIKE LISA & YOU!
FOLKCRAFT® PLAYERS - WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM MORE OF YOU!
No new Folkcraft Player to feature again this week (Alas!), but we are still delighted to re-feature Lisa Driver. How've you been, Lisa?
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:
In this week's lesson, Mandy shows you a few bluesy grooves, and how to start adding them to your arrangements. The idea is to add interesting things to basic songs to make them your own. One groove can make a song special, so work to add your own flavor by incorporating these concepts. Have fun! Just 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.
LULLABIES
by Dana Gruber
Here's a really sweet book with some of the most beautiful melodies you'll ever hear. Arranged for mountain dulcimer solo (plus a few duets and ensemble pieces tossed in for good measure), these are great songs to help you relax after a stressful day at work (or on the golf course!). This collection of dulcimer tab (with standard notation and lyrics, too!) has something for each of your "lullaby moods." From classical beauties to folk tunes, and everything in between, you're bound to find something to your liking. Songs from around the world, arranged by one of the very best. Enjoy! (52 pages - some capo required)
This book is published by Fingers Of Steel, and is made available here as an authorized, licensed download.
Check out this lovely review for this book
✮✮✮✮ Peaceful tunes. Lovely melodies, not too difficult for an intermediate level player - even some tunes beginning players will be able to tackle. While some tunes weren't familiar to me, it's a very nice book! (Dorothy M - 5/26/24)
SONGS INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK:
A Celtic Lullaby
All The Pretty Little Horses
Bayushki Bayu
Brahm's Lullaby
Bye Lo Baby Lo Baby (Prairie Lullaby) - 3 Variations
His Eye Is On The Sparrow
Hush Little Baby Waltz - Duet
Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) - Duet
Lullaby For Benjamin - Composed By Dana Gruber
Sleep My Baby - Ensemble
Slumber My Darling - Duet (Composed By Stephen Foster)
Tente, Baby, Tente - Duet
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - 4 Variations (Composed By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Wiegenlied Fur Zachary - Duet