Dulcimer Dude (to be).

[Mr. Scott]

Hello,
I've suddenly become interested in the Dulcimer, the Appalacian type, and want to buy one. Are there any experienced dulcimer players here who could guide me as to what to look for, construction, materials etc and what might be considered a fair price for a half-decent (make that fully decent!) instrument.
Thank you in advance.

[ifret]

I'm a pretty serious MD player. Check out everythingdulcimer.com and friends of the mountain dulcimer. Great instruments to consider are McSpadden and Folkcraft. High quality instruments. Walnut for a more mellow tone. Spruce, cherry for brighter. Check out those sites and you'll learn a lot. Dulcimers multiply faster than guitars, so beware. Lots of fun. Check out some dulcimer festivals to attend too. Dulcimer folks are some of the nicest people you'll meet.

[Trillian]

Hi, I haven't played a load of dulcimers but I love the Warren May that I have. Warren makes furniture and dulcimers in Berea, Kentucky and his work is good, and the dulcimers are reasonably priced for a good handmade instrument. They run from about 4 - 5 hundred dollars depending on model and features, more for special orders (you won't see those prices in guitar land lol). I hear good things about McSpadden and Folkcraft too, and the dulcimer sites mentioned are very good.

Makers tend to use a lot of local woods in dulcimers so you'll see a lot of walnut, cherry, alder, sassafrass, etc. The two predominant shapes for the mountain dulcimer are teardrop and hourglass, I think the hourglass is supposed to be a bit brighter and is usually more expensive, while the teardrop tends to bring out the bass a little more.

The traditional dulcimer is a purely diatonic instrument, it's like a regular fretboard with several of the frets missing. A very common concession to convenience is the addition of a '6 1/2 fret', which allows greater flexibility to change mode without re-tuning. Many makers have this option available these days, and IMO it doesn't really detract much from the pure simplicity of the instrument. There are fully chromatic dulcimers as well as six string dulcimers out there too.

The traditional mountain dulcimer has four strings: two 'drone' strings (usually a wound .22 and a plain .12) and a course of two strings for the melody (usually a couple more .12s). The traditional way to play it is to fret the melody with a 'noter' (basically a stick), and strum with the other two strings as a drone. Many modern players do a lot of chording however, and employ lots of strumming, picking, and finger picking techniques. Some players prefer a single string for the melody, often going up a gauge or two. I think it's supposed to give good clarity to finger picking. There are 3 string dulcimers set up that way, or you can leave a string off of a 4 string to try the style out.

You don't really change key with a capo the way you do on a guitar, you change mode, so a capo can make it quick and easy to switch from Major to minor without re tuning. Your guitar capo won't work either, it has to be a dulcimer capo that clamps the sides of the fret board.

Many dulcimers have modern gear tuners, but it's not uncommon to see rosewood pegs, which are a little fussier to use though they are very stable once you set them.

Some dulcimers are set up for loop end strings, in which case a set of 5 string banjo strings will work fine, others are set up for ball end strings which I like because it opens up more possibilities for custom gauges. Not everyone has dulcimer strings on hand though so you are likely to have to spout off the gauges you want from the single string bin in a music store.

I'm no expert on the dulcimer but that's what I've learned in 4 years, well that and it's a fun instrument, it's fun to find uses for it, and it's just so relaxing to play, like no other instrument. Just sit in a chair outside, plunk the dulcimer in your lap, with a cold drink beside you, and time disappears . Good luck in your quest!

[Wade Hampton]

Howdy, Mr. Scott. My first musical instrument was mountain dulcimer. Born in Missouri, I got my first one in 1974. In 1980 I won the United States Mountain Dulcimer Championship contest in at the Winfield Festival in Kansas.

Since 1983 I've used and endorsed Blue Lion mountain dulcimers, made in Santa Margarita, California by Bob and Janita Baker. To me the quality level of the Blue Lion instruments makes them the dulcimer equivalents of Martin and Collings guitars. They're superb instruments.

One of the reasons I'm enthusiastic about them is that, regardless of the price point where each model is sold, all of them are constructed of quarter sawn solid wood, and all of them stay and play in tune.

Unfortunately, with many dulcimer makers sometimes their less expensive models are not really all that playable. But all of the Blue Lions are.

http://www.bluelioninstruments.com/d...ldulcimers.htm

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Mr. Scott]

Many thanks to you guys for your replies. I really like the idea of these instruments but I've never even seen one in the flesh as it were. Much of my childhood was steeped in the English folk music tradition and I think an instrument such as the dulcimer would suit that sort of music down to the ground.
Having looked at some of the ads, it seems that I would have to purchase from abroad which obviously means buying unseen, something I've never done before in 50+ tears of (guitar) playing, and that concerns me a bit. However, we hope to visit friends in Canada (BC) next year for a month or so, so I may be able to travel down to the United States while I'm there.
Unfortunately I'm impatient. I do like the look of those Blue Lion instruments so I may be in touch with them. In fact I will be, just to find shipping costs etc.
So, once again, thanks. You've pointed me in the right direction.

[PorkPieGuy]

McSpadden makes a really great mountain dulcimer. I sold both of my MD's a while back, but if I were to ever get another, it would be a mcspadden.

[Dan Carey]

Go to http://fotmd.com/ (Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer) for lots of good information. Been a member there for s couple of years now.

[dhalbert]

Originally Posted by Mr. Scott

it seems that I would have to purchase from abroad

I take it you're in the UK. There are mountain dulcimer shops and makers local to you, selling imported and UK instruments:
http://www.dulcimers.co.uk/ (Wales)
http://dulcimer.org.uk/ (club)
http://dulcimer.org.uk/makers.html (makers and shops)
http://revelsmusic.co.uk/

All the above are just from a websearch of "mountain dulcimer uk". I did also turn up a bunch of dealers selling Chinese-made mountain dulcimers (some have American-sounding brand names). These I would avoid.

[darylcrisp]

my wife and i each have Folkcraft Dulcimers and love them. both are well built, solid wood, and sound/play great.

wife has the celtic cutouts all walnut and a paddlehead headstock(guitar like)
http://www.folkcraft.com/2324955_alt_hf.html

i have an all hickory with F holes(hourglass shape) and scroll headstock. i removed the double course and play fingerstyle with the 3 strings.

lots of fun, easy to learn, and they sound cool. easy to transport, well built instruments.

definitely check out Bing Futch:


here is Bing on Folkcraft and Stephen Seifert on a McSpadden(i think he is a McSpadden spokesperson so look him up for more)

[donh]

Look into instrumens by Jerry Rockwell or Mike Clemmer. Excellent builders, quality instruments, massive tone, nice guys.