Custom Instrument III

Posted by David

I have just received some more pictures from Kevin W. Jones, the luthier creating this instrument. Jones specializes in building Walkabout Dulcimers. Some people refer to similar instruments as long neck dulcimers. They are shaped and played like guitars, but they are diatonically fretted with pairs of strings like mountain dulcimers. Jennifer and I have a mountain dulcimer at the house that we enjoy playing, but for me, coming from a guitar background, the instrument is backwards. So we decided to tune my tenor guitar similar to the dulcimer since it has four strings as well. This sounded interesting, but since the strings were not in pairs, it didn't quite have the sound we were looking for. One benefit of the tenor guitar tuned this way, over the dulcimer is that it is chromatically fretted. Being chromatically fretted allows for easy transistion between keys, something needed during jams.

This is why I contacted Kevin W. Jones of the Olympia Dulcimer Company. I saw that he had designed and was building exactly what I was looking for. He builds many variations of the walkabout dulcimer, including a bass version and an electric version. I personally liked the sound of his bass walkabouts, and the size of them, but I wanted one chromatically tuned with diatonic markers on the side. He has built similar instruments in the past, including an eight string chromatically tuned bass dulcimer, so I knew I was in great hands. I went with the six stringed bass walkabout dulcimer rather than an eight stringed one.

Please check out the Olympia Dulcimer Company's website to learn more about the walkabout dulcimer and to see video clips and hear what these instruments sound like. http://www.walkaboutdulcimer.com/

Here are the newest pictures as promised. Oh...and congratulation Trudy, you were the only one to guess correctly right off the bat that it was some sort of dulcimer!

Pickin' in the Park

Posted by Jennifer

On the third Friday night of the summer months, the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce holds “Pickin’ in the Park” in Veteran’s Park, downtown Warsaw, North Carolina. We don’t get to go terribly often as we work so far away from Warsaw, and since last month was a rain-out we weren’t sure we’d get to make it at all this summer. But as luck would have it, we had lovely weather for an outdoor jam. Pickers gather under the porch and spectators bring their lawn chairs to watch from the grass. Mr. and Mrs. Martin sell hot dogs and drinks for the Chamber and we usually make those our dinner for the evening.

The crowd of pickers was a small group this night. Football season has started for the schools so Pat Mathis was unfortunately unable to make it there. We sure missed hearing him sing the “Pickin’ in the Park National Anthem”- otherwise known as “Just a Bowl of Butterbeans” sung to the tune of the gospel song, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” But J. B. Herring was there with his harmonica, good friends Ray Carter and Tom Evans with their guitars, and trusty David Merritt with his banjo. Lou Gagliano was also there fiddling and… well, what does one call fiddling on a viola? Faddling? (Hmm, maybe that’s where Fiddle Faddle came from? Yum…) William Best and the Bullards were also there to enjoy the festivities.

One fellow from the Duplin Times was there taking photos for the paper. He said a good photo might also be used in a free community calendar next year. As he came around asking for pickers’ names, he said to me, “I hear you’re a championship fiddler, is that right?” I was a little surprised by this, wondering who would’ve told him such a thing. I replied, “No, I’ve never competed.” Only after this did I think of a hundred wittier things I might’ve said- but being quick-witted is David’s forte, not mine.

The jam went on and the cicadas sang along but we couldn’t help but be disappointed when the train didn’t come through town in the middle of our jam. It seems that every Pickin’ in the Park I’ve been to was interrupted by the 9:00pm train whistling and chugging along. Over time, the train’s grand entrance lent a certain charm to the event- particularly when you consider that some of the crowd’s favorite tunes are train songs such as the “Orange Blossom Special” and the “Wabash Cannonball.” But no amount of train-tune-picking could bring on the train that night.
We ended, of course, with Pickin’ in the Park’s second signature tune, “Goodnight, Irene.”

Here's the short article that was in the Duplin Times:

Custom Instrument II

Posted by David

It's been about a week now and we have some more images. The below pictures show the top glue up, the top bracing pattern, and spruce brace and mahogany blocks. Here you can see more clearly the teardrop shape of the body.

Custom Instrument

Posted by David

Jennifer and I have been working steadily on our album. She has penned a song which we both really enjoy, but for the recording it needs something special to really make it shine. We wanted the song to have a sound that you wouldn't normally hear today, it needed to have a 'ghost from the past' sort of sound. We knew what we wanted, but did not know of an instrument that could produce the sound. After mixing aspects from three different instruments, we knew the exact sound we wanted and how we wanted the instrument to be played, but this instrument would have to be custom built.

The search was on to see if a similar instrument was being made. After a bit of research, we found a luthier that was creating instruments with the exact sound and shape we wanted. I called him up and we discussed the specifics of what we wanted and if it was possible. After a brief discussion of the types of wood that would be used and the scale type, he began building the instrument.

Can you guess what type of instrument this will be? I will be providing updates and photos of this instrument as it is being built. These two photos show the front body and the fret board.