Musician and Dulcimer Maker
Posted in Dulcimer on Sep 27th, 2007
Balis Ritchie
Loraine Wyman
Jethro Amburgey
Bristol Taylor
Balis Ritchie was Jean Ritchie’s father.
Loraine Wyman collected Appalachian and Canadian folk songs in the early 20th century.
Jethro Amburgey was a prolific and influential dulcimer maker.
Bristol Taylor was a dulcimer maker, farmer and poet. I have not found any significant references to him or his work.
I love to thickness tops, backs and sides with hand planes. It’s quiet, challenging and a good physical workout. If all goes well the surface of the wood will be just about ready for finishing.
That being said, to produce instruments for sale in a reasonable amount of time most luthiers will use a thickness sander [...]
I’m currently working on a dulcimer in Cherry but I thought I’d get started on the next in line. That one will have Walnut for the back and sides and a Cedar top.
Here is some of the wood that has been up in the attic. This was resawn about a year ago.
I take what I [...]
Posted in Dulcimer on Sep 14th, 2007
I grew up in Brooklyn, NY.
When I was 15 I played piano in a rock and roll band. I became involved with a community theater group that rented a storefront and paid the rent by having a coffee house with an open mic every Friday .
I got to meet a lot of interesting performers and [...]
Posted in Tools on Sep 12th, 2007
Woodworking tools are useless unless they are sharp. Learning to sharpen is an ongoing process; I have tried a number of methods and find that my technique and the materials I choose to use continually evolve.
There is not a right or wrong way to sharpen tools. If the tool gets “sharp enough to shave with” [...]
Posted in Jew's Harps on Sep 10th, 2007
Jews Harps are found throughout the world. The name is an enigma; I have never heard a believable story connecting this instrument to the Jewish people.
There are also many names for this instrument depending on where it is found. Some of the more common names are:
Trump (French) Khomus (Central Asia) [...]
I first heard Margaret MacArthur perform when I was a teenager. I had just begun learning to play the dulcimer and she was one of the first players I had the chance to hear.
She performed at The South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. I was probably 17 at the time.
Margaret demonstrated a rare [...]
Posted in Tools on Sep 8th, 2007
I was cleaning up the shop today in preparation for getting some work done and I thought I’d take a few pictures of some of the tools I commonly use.
I enjoy working with hand tools and prefer using them instead of power tools whenever it is reasonable to do so. There are many aspects of [...]
Posted in Lutherie on Sep 7th, 2007
I can’t remember where I read something that transformed my thoughts about working with wood. In an article about the difficulty of working some species of wood someone wrote the following as best I can remember:
"Wood was not designed to be easy to work or have perfect grain, stability, or color. Wood was designed to [...]
