Marin Mersenne’s “Harmonie Universelle” is an encyclopedic work on the musical theory and instruments of the 17th century.
Being a mathematician, musician and theologian Mersenne took a more scientific route towards explaining the musical theory of the day, the various systems of temperament, etc.
In Mersenne’s time the West had not yet settled on equal temperament as [...]
Yearly Archive for 2008
I always have a few scrapers on the bench and could not imagine working without them. This little scraper is one of my favorites.
Just a few of it’s uses:
Cleaning up dried glue
Trimming binding flush with the top and sides
Shaping braces
Softening edges
Beveling the edges of the back reinforcement strip
Making pennies look big
The angled edge creates [...]
Some Old Woodworking Tool Ads
Posted in Tools on Dec 17th, 2008
I’ve been a little under the weather for the last few days so I have not put in as much time in the shop as I would have liked too.
There are always a few things I can accomplish in the shop on an off day so I milled and glued up a few fretboard blanks [...]
Davy Graham Passes Away
Posted in Music on Dec 17th, 2008
The influence of Davy Graham and many of the musicians he has influenced largely influenced my own musical sensibilities.
He was a musician whose influence on other musicians exceeded his own personal fame.
An obituary can be found here.
I Knocked Over My Glue Pot
Posted in Fun on Dec 13th, 2008
I thought I’d get a little work done in the shop this afternoon.
I have a cold and I am not at my best so I figured I’d keep it simple and glue some braces to the backs of the three dulcimers I’m currently making.
Here is my apprentice mixing me a fresh batch of hide glue.
While [...]
An Early Low D Tinwhistle or Flute
Posted in Music on Dec 12th, 2008
Last night I was reading “A Popular Account of Ancient Musical Instruments and Their Development: As Illustrated by Typical Examples in the Galpin Collection at Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex” By William Lynd.
Yes, I have a fascinating life.
This book was published by J. Clarke in 1897. I do not know if J. Clarke was any relation [...]
Late last night I learned that some of the email sent to me via my contact page has been treated as spam for at least 2 weeks! Oh what fun!
If you have tried to contact me but have not heard back this is the reason why. My apologies. Please try again.
Several weeks ago my IP [...]
Hammered Dulcimer Design In Progress
Posted in Hammered Dulcimer on Dec 9th, 2008
I have been thinking of making hammered dulcimers primarily because I have some ideas for the design of an instrument I would like to play. This is how I began making mountain dulcimers many years ago.
Thinking is how the design process begins, then comes looking for sources of inspiration followed by making drawings.
I generally have [...]
Hammered Dulcimer Recording From 1908!
Posted in Hammered Dulcimer on Dec 7th, 2008
Here’s an Edison cylinder recording of a hammered dulcimer solo recorded in 1908! No big, fancy dulcimer with extend range, additional chromatic notes or damper pedals here, just the skill of a player on an instrument that sounds like it had between 9 and 12 treble courses and possibly a smaller number of bass courses.
I [...]
I can’t remember where I came across this photograph. It was taken in Jerusalem and possibly from a time when the techniques of photography required staging the shot.
I don’t know if the place the man is working is his regular shop or if he sets up shop wherever he happened to be. Perhaps he has [...]