Posted on January 13, 2025May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Makers: Sue and Ray Mooers of Dusty Strings Meet the Makers: Sue and Ray Mooers of Dusty Strings by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #77, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Over the past two decades, Ray and Sue Mooers’ company, Dusty Strings, has become a major player in the folk-music scene in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Their urban-basement store in Seattle has become a regional hub, not only supplying musical tools to beginner and expert alike, but serving as a meeting place for musicians; a place for folk-music aficionados to get information about concerts, festivals, and regional events. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and their expertise, inventory, and reputation has grown over the years. They have probably built and sold more hammered dulcimers than anyone, anywhere, and they have recently moved their folk-harp and hammered dulcimer production into a new, thoroughly modern facility not far from their retail store. I spent an afternoon talking with them and walking through the plant, and was massively impressed not only by the scale and sophistication of what they are doing, but by the two of them. They are warm, welcoming, and down to earth, and they have wonderfully clear and direct attitudes toward their lives and their business. After all these years they are still in love, and despite big changes in the scale of their enterprise and the incumbent responsibilities, they still seem to be having fun. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 7, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Smokies Dulcimer Convention Smokies Dulcimer Convention by Vicki Runnion Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, 5, #3, 1977 My good friends at the Folk Life Center of the Smokies, in Cosby, Tennessee, got together with some folks (now new friends from the Guild of American Luthiers and the publishers of Dulcimer Players News, and co-sponsored what I hope was the first of many annual dulcimer conventions there. The beautiful wooded Folk Life Center land n Cosby was the site for a weekend (June 10-12) full of music and other delights. Players, builders and lovers of both the plucked mountain dulcimer and the hammered dulcimer came from near and far (Florida, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, etc.) to celebrate the dulcimer. Performer Bonnie Carol won the understanding laughter of the audience late Saturday evening, with a song (composed by friends of hers) that poked gentle fun at people who still manage to hold on to the view of the dulcimer as merely an uncomplicated traditional instrument capable of only the simplest style of playing. Had any of these people been with us this weekend, I’m sure they myth would have been exploded. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 30, 2024May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Dulcimer 101 Dulcimer 101 by John Calkin Originally published in American Lutherie #98, 2009 There's a good reason why dulcimers get no respect. They are most often judged by their worst players. No one faced with a no-talent, beginner guitarist says, “That instrument isn’t worth a damn.” But when confronted by someone trying to strum the dulcimer and warble through “Amazing Grace,” that’s exactly the attitude that most of us adopt — “That instrument isn’t worth my time.” But if you’ve ever heard the likes of Marks Biggs, Leo Kretzner, Harvey Reid, or Janita Baker, just to name a few, you know that the instrument is only limited by the ability and imagination of the player. So please leave your attitude at the door. I quit building dulcimers after about eighty pieces. When I ran out of market I moved on to other instruments. Guitars and banjos may be more complicated, but I never felt that I had outgrown dulcimers. Recently I met dulcimer teacher Dinah Ansley. Teachers of obscure instruments often become hubs of like-minded people. After examining and playing a couple pieces I had left after a decade of nonbuilding, Dinah told me that if I would make dulcimers again she would recommend them to her students. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 3 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 13, 2024May 9, 2025 by Dale Phillips How to Become a Running Dog of the Capitalist Imperialist Music Mongers (and love it!) How to Become a Running Dog of the Capitalist Imperialist Music Mongers (and love it!) by J.R. Beall Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter, Volume 3 #2, 1975 I’ve just finished re-reading R.E. Bruné’s last article on making it as a luthier and on most points we are in agreement. On the matter of commercial sales, however, I’m not as stuffy as R.E. and must admit that a good portion of my income is derived therefrom. R.E. is a purist and I can admire him for his willingness to live the austere life, sleeping on his workbench and eating puree of spruce shavings and rosewood dust. I am, by his standards, decadent beyond redemption, with a legal wife, a comfortable home, and plenty of expensive grub, but I offer no apologies, I am disgustingly satisfied with my life-style and have no difficulty justifying my comfortable existence. In my opinion, the biggest problem with any one-man operation in our line of work, is that it is just physically impossible to turn out a sufficient number of any kind of instrument in any given time period, to earn as much as any average factory worker. For example, a good guitar builder, working alone can build one guitar every two weeks. That adds up to 24 per year, times $600.00 = $14,400.00 annual gross. That sounds pretty good to most of us but remember he must then pay for his materials, his maintenance and utilities, his traveling and advertising, taxes and the rest. If he can net $8,500. after expenses, he is doing well and we all must agree that in these times $8,500. is not big money. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 13, 2024May 15, 2025 by Dale Phillips Hammer Dulcimer Pinblocks Hammer Dulcimer Pinblocks by Michael Mann Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #197, 1981 When I first started building Hammered Dulcimers I had trouble deciding just how to fabricate my pinblocks, since I could not find any maple thicker than 3/4". Taking the advice of Sam Rizzetta in his leaflet “Making a Hammered Dulcimer” (Leaflet #72-5, free from Division of Public Information and Education, 5303-B MHTB, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560), I started building up my pinblocks butcher-block style. I still make them this way, and I have designed and tried several different types. Building up pinblocks is a little more work, but there are several advantages. First, a built-up pinblock is more crack resistant than a regular thick pieces of wood, due to the fact that the string pressure exerted on the zither pins is dispersed equally between two or more slabs of wood. (This, however, depends on the thickness of the wood that you are building the pinblocks with.) Butcher-blocked wood is stronger and more warp resistant than a single piece of wood of the same size. Another reason, and very important to some, is that butcher-block pattern, especially if made with contrasting woods, is very beautiful. Yet another reason is the fact that by building up a pinblock, one can eliminate the need for expensive tools such as a router or rabbet plane with which to make a ledge for the soundboard to rest upon. A ledge board can simply be glued to the inside surface of the pinblock (see Figures 2, 3, and 5). Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
