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Post by sordello on Mar 8, 2010 22:26:59 GMT -5
Ditto to everything Norm said. (Thanks for saving me all that typing Norm!) My bit though: I'm presuming that you may be an old fud like me, which means back in your youth, there were dreads, dreads, and dreads to choose from. Now there are so many sizes! It is most important to hit a guitar store and "feel" on your lap the size that shouts, "Yeh, you'll play me everyday for 3 hours a day!" Other guitars will just sit there and say, "Nope. too big/small; you're not really gonna play me long time." For long term initial practice, and if it's gonna happen on a couch while you watch some TV, I would highly recommend you "feel" out a Larrivee parlor first. Man oh man they are comfy for casual practice, with enough boom for their small size for lovely fingerstyle play. Good resale value, if you decide to 'move up' in a year or two. Larrivee is very high quality for what they ask for in $$. Some may say Larrivee isn't for them; but no one has ever said a Larrivee was a waste of money. .
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Post by folkstrum on Mar 8, 2010 23:12:23 GMT -5
Good points, Robert!
Jim Holler is also a major Larrivee dealer; he set up and sent out over 100 of the "Larrivee Forum Guitars" last year-you shouldda seen his basement! Lots of valuable wood and steel.
He showed me a coupla of his lesser expensive Larrivees today-and they are sweet, but I believe even with his "deal," a bit over where Paul wants to be. But you're right: there is no one that ever dissed the build-quality, or attention to detail Jean Larrivee puts into his guitars--and they're in a "sweet spot" price wise, comparable to Martin and Taylor but less $$$. He doesn't have any parlors, BTW. Those are hard to come by, and ain't cheap!
As for dreads, dreads, dreads--yeah; Paul and I were raised on those and jumbos. Often, dreads are accurately referred to as the "Swiss Army Knives" of guitars. I think maybe OM's are beginning to make inroads in that category. I've always had a dread in the stable, and I can strum, Travis-pick, or fingerpick 'em, and they sound just peachy fine to me! For those times I want some real "guts," they are tough to beat. I just had a friend rid himself of a handbuilt Braz 12-fret that seemed to have chronic neck problems, and get hisself a stock HD-28 like mine. As Jim says, "you simply cannot go wrong with an HD-28." Obviously, I agree. ;D
BTW, Jim told me today that Morgan-Monroe (a Pac-rim that like Recording King does some nice stuff really reasonably) had its factory BURN DOWN! Yikes! So, he is getting a bit hinky about recommending what he has in current stock because should it need some part or something, fuggedaboudit right now. Can you imagine the weeping that would ensue watching a guitar factory burn to the ground? All that nice seasoned wood!?!?!
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Post by Egnurlaup on Mar 9, 2010 19:08:16 GMT -5
All good advice and information. On the mountain dulcimer, I went to GW and was presented to a towering wall of string options - unbeleivable since my day when there were Bronze and Steel...period. Anyways next step was they handed me a caliper (very helpful bunch) and told me to measure the strings myself...! Anyways, all worked out and I now am getting a crisperer sound from this 20 year old instrument. Somehow I wish it was a four string model...
On the guitar front, I am now officially overwhelmed with the amount of options out there. But frat brother Norm has narrowed me down to 2 Taylors and and 2 RKs. I will audition those I can find around here but leave it to Norm to set me up with Jim Holler. Heh-heh, bet Norm is sorry he answered my email!
Paul
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Post by chicagosandy on Jun 17, 2010 15:26:13 GMT -5
The doubled string pair on a standard dulcimer is the treble (closest to your body with the peghead to your left if you're a righty). Only the bass string is wound, with the rest plain. Most sets have the bass at anywhere bet. .021-.024 depending on preferred action and keys most commonly played, with the single middle string and treble pair being the same gauge (.012). Nowadays, though, sets are customized to the "mode" in which people play--the default mode used to be Ionian (based on a standard major scale), with the melody played with a noter stick only on the double trebles or the bass and sometimes the middle, with every other string just droning. (That's what can sound so monotonous after just a couple of songs). But ever since the mid-'70s with the popularity of Force and D'Ossché's "In Search of the Wild Dulcimer," the most popular tuning mode has become Mixolydian (like Ionian but with a flatted 7th--think "Old Joe Clark" or "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"). The most common key in a standard dulcimer is D, which in Mixolydian would correspond--from bass to trebles--to D-A-dd. This tuning is most versatile for chording, and with the addition of the "6th-1/2" fret (standard on almost all newer dulcimers) allows for playing a normal major scale even in Mixolydian modal tuning. For that reason, many string sets are now offered in gauges optimized for Mixolydian--bass .022-.024, middle .012-.014, trebles .010-.012, depending on stringmaker. Now, to completely throw ya for a loop, Joni Mitchell tunes ALL her strings to F (F-F-ff) and (per his teacher and composer of "Dulcimer Stomp," Randy Rane Reusch) Aerosmith's Joe Perry uses an equidistant 4-string Mixolydian tuning (most new dulcimers have extra nut and saddle notches for that) of D-A-d-d or D-A-A-d. Practically any song, especially in rock, that is in an open D, DADGAD or open G tuning can be played in D Mixolydian. Pick up a David Massengill album for an eye-opener about how melodic a dulcimer can be. (As for hammered, I like the sound but HATE to play along with one because it's so freakin' LOUD; my nightmare scenario would be to have to form a trio with me on mt. dulcimer behind a hammered dulcimer and a bluegrass banjo).
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Post by chicagosandy on Jun 17, 2010 15:30:35 GMT -5
oh, and as to OM's, take a look at Voyage-Air. The laminated-mahogany body/solid-spruce top VAOM-06 is full-scale, rich sounding and a joy to play; first time I heard one I had no idea it was a folding guitar! Street price (including a case guaranteed to fit in most overhead bins or--with the computer-backpack section unzipped--under the seat on a puddle-jumper) is about $600. (Dread is same price). For $1600, you get all-solid woods, blingier trim and a cutaway. And they're made in the USA (Grass Valley, CA) by Harvey Leach (and, one presumes, his elves).
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Post by donalgdon on Jun 17, 2010 20:27:03 GMT -5
Sandy, thanks for the dulcimer 101. I learned more than I ever knew about them in that small post. Particularly, I learned why I found some of them annoying to listen to without knowing exactly why. I've experienced that "what can sound so monotonous after just a couple of songs" thing and couldn't put my finger on it.
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Post by chicagosandy on Jul 4, 2010 2:08:51 GMT -5
Right back atcha, Don! It's that Ionian-noter "whing-whing-whing" sound that drives most people crazy and leads them to hate dulcimer music (sorta like the dissonances from hitting the un-chorded and supposedly damped strings on an autoharp). Tuning to Mixolydian and playing chords with a pick or fingerstyle melodies (I love to cross-pick a 6-string "church" or "Schnaufer 6" dulcimer up the fretboard) can mix it up quite a bit--I can get sounds that imitate a mandolin or even a Rickenbacker 12-string!
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Post by Egnurlaup on Aug 3, 2010 10:00:41 GMT -5
I tried Mixolydian tuning and after a few sessions found it to work pretty well, Sandy. Good advice! I think it is safe to say that any three note open string array is going to have its limits.
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