Humble Dulcimer?

No this is Wayne & Patricia with their Dulcimer Collection

Wayne is my arch-nemesis and has challenged me....

to a duel on the Dulcimer!

Perhaps I'd oblige, if he hadn't bought every Dulci on the West Coast!!!

(E Ku'u) Morning Dew on Dulcimer & Slide

Here's one in honor of my new Bluegrass friends from the Burning Uke 8 2010 weekend. Famous lefty Wayne Jiang brought out his dulcimer for a few tunes. This beautiful Hawaiian song is one of my favorites.

The YT notes say...

Classic Hawaiian song played "slack key style" on Appalachian dulcimer & steel guitar. Recorded at the 2010 Northwest Folklife Festival, Seattle WA. Jack Aldrich-steel; Mark Kailana Nelson-dulcimer. TAB is available in Mark Kailana Nelson's book "Ke Kukima Polinahe~Hawaiian and Polynesian Music for Appalachian Dulcimer." www.mark-o.com

Something New / Something Different (Dulcimers)

GuQin Foldable Dulcimer (Copied from YT video shown above) - This is a custom instrument I built for a gentleman that is loosely based upon an ancient Chinese instrument called a GuQin. Notice the Harmonic Node Markers instead of fret dots and the fact that it is fretless.

Features:
• Fretless
• Harmonic Node Markers
• Steinberger Locking Headless Tuners
• Pickups in the Bridge AND the Nut
• Patent Applied For bridge plate with Ghost Piezo saddles
• Master volume to control both the bridge and the nut at the same time
• Volume control placed to allow Volume Swells with the thumb
• Folds in half to make it small enough to fit in carry-on luggage (Folded Size: 17" long x 7.5" wide x 5.5" tall)

From Quintin Stephens at Stephens Musical Instruments
http://www.dulcicaster.com/

Shows the different mountain dulcimer fret patterns used throughout the last 150 years or so. Demonstrations of traditional and modern styles. Check out his electric dulcimer. http://stephenseifert.com/ http://myspace.com/stephenseifert/

(Also copied text from YT video)

Here's some traditional dulci-jammin' by Christian Huet

Howard Rugg Dulcimer History, A Vintage Ukulele Story, Ukulele Repairs, Ukulele Dick

POB, Inc. has been plastering me with so many ukulele related YT videos lately. I have skipped over any that were displaying the capricious destruction of any defenseless ukes and have spared you from the swedish songs for a brief period.

This video is very appealing to me because of it's luthierial and historical aspects. This luthier, Howard Rugg, shares many photo of his start with CapriTaurus dulcimers and several other iterations of dulcimer companies. And then he talks about a vintage Hawaiian koa soprano uke that was brought to him for repairs. It is amazing how much can be done to restore instruments and keep them living.

Another highlight of this video is the appearance of Ukulele Dick (about 5:25 mark) playing the Jose Do Espirito Santo. I just wrote about UD a couple of posts ago. He is an intellectually creative and talented ukulele player who has the best vaudevillian talents. His strumming techniques always keep me at the edge of my seat trying to learn more. He is a master musican and equally disposed to playing Beatles or Elvis to entertain.

Accoustic Electric Mountain Dulcimer

There's a new phenomenon of dulcimer's called strum sticks. Here's one of the coolest that I've seen and it's up for sale on eBay now. Click on the photo to see a larger view of the DarkStarGuitar-made accoustic-electric dulcimer.

Ukulele Encounters on the Burlingame Ave.

Wayne Jiang self portrait with ukulele

It's a bit hard to fathom in the current state of the economy but I have been blessed with a consistent flow of work, and a bit more. Yesterday, I got a call from my longterm client who needed another small job squeezed in. It was a small storefront and canopy for a new "Trina Turk Boutique" at 1223 Burlingame Ave., in Burlingame, CA. I had to make an urgent trip across the bay for a jobsite meeting with the general contractor earlier today.

-0-

I have worked in the steel industry for quite a long time. Starting as a draftsman in high school and getting a job with Universal Detailing Company in Fremont, Ca somewhere around 1980. Since then I have had the good fortune of working in several aspects of the trade including estimator and project manager. The project management background really comes in handy in these impromptu meetings where the general contractor is trying to make sense of the quickly produced and incomplete set of design drawings. Instead of sending it back for clarification from the architect they squeeze the remaining design details from each of the subcontractors - the one's that work out all of the problems and resolve all of the missing design for free.

-0-

Well this unexpected travel had me pulling my car to the boulevard curb just as Wayne Jiang was walking by with a small case in his hand. I had met Wayne and his wife 2 or 3 times at the UCSC. (Most recently where he did a spectacular ukulele/dulcimer duet with his wife at the UCSC open mic.) I called out to him and we spoke about the Tangi sopranino he was carrying. He said you can get one for $100 if you go straight to the factory to buy (his tip!)

-0-

Wayne is also quite a talented and prolific painter. If you click in the title above it will take you to his site. I have taken a fairly thorough look at his paintings and enjoy, in my humble and uneducated opinion, how he shows a everyday or arrangements with lighting from different angles in a quite spectacular way.

-0-

Wayne also has great enthusiasm for music and instruments. We spoke for about 15 minutes about dulcimers. He gave me some resommendations that I am going to post here for my future reference.

-
WAYNE's RECOMMENDATIONS (for a Dulcimer purchase)

1) Don't get an old dulcimer. They may be beautiful but don't have much volume.

2) Good dulcimer: McSpadden (shorter scale, good action, not loud).

3) Good dulcimer: Folkroots.

4) Good expensive rarer dulcimer: Simerman (really good, no longer made).

5) Good expensive dulcimer: Bonnie Carol (similar quality to Simermans).

6) Wayne recommended spruce top, walnut sides.