Resources For New Dulcimer Players

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

 

I hope your week has been a good one, full of dulcimer playing. Or at least you have time set aside over this long holiday weekend to work out a new song or two, or at least to spend some time with your old favorite tunes.

 

This'll be a short email - I'm writing this way back on November 13th. I'm taking today off, and have given my staff (Pam and Cheyenne) today off, too. You're welcome to call the shop and check, to see if we're working, but you'll get the voice mail!

 

I wanted to let you all know about a new feature on the Folkcraft.com website. We now have a dedicated page full of "Resources For New Dulcimer Players." I get emails all the time, asking for book recommendations, string recommendations, and questions like "what do I need to get started?" It is time-consuming to answer these similar email requests half-a-dozen times a week, so we finally decided to put together a single-resource page for new players.

 

Here's a link, please feel free to share it with your "New-to-Dulcimer" friends:

 

 

We've included books and strings (duh!), but also essential accessories, online resources, festival suggestions, and more. This is absolutely not a complete list, but a starting point for new players. There are lots of great books/festivals/people/videos/accessories that aren't listed. I left off a lot of my personal favorites, in each of these categories. But I've included tried-and-true recommendations that'll get newbies started on the right foot.

Screen shot of the new resources page

And on a less-positive note, I've had several calls lately from customers who received text messages from either UPS or the USPS, asking for address confirmation. The text reads something like this: "The package has arrived at the warehouse and cannot be delivered due to incomplete address information. Confirm your address at the link." A link is then provided to something like pay-ups dot com, or pay-usps dot com. (I've substituted "dot " for an actual dot, just so that your computer or phone doesn't make this into an actual link!)

If you get an email or text like this, IT IS A SCAM! You might actually be expecting a package, but the scammers send millions of these messages each day. The fact that you might be expecting a delivery is just a lucky coincidence for the scammer. Don't click. Please don't click!

Now you know.

 

Thank you for reading!

 

Richard Ash, luthier-who's-enjoying-time-with-family-today