Musician and Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer Maker
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 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 [...]
