Make a Ray Jacobs` Rocky Mountain Dulcimer

Make a
Ray Jacobs’
Rocky
Mountain
Dulcimer
make this
GORGEOUS
sounding
instrument
from a 2x4,
cardboard, &
plywood. It’s
cheap, beautiful,
& easy-to-buildand-play.
by Kiko Denzer,
with help
and inspiration from
Ray and Shirley Jacobs
HandPrintPress.com
“IN THE END,
WE SHALL HAVE
HAD ENOUGH
OF CYNICISM,
SCEPTICISM AND
HUMBUG, AND
WILL WANT
TO LIVE
-
MORE MUSICALLY.”
*
Ray’s wife
Shirley is
holding one of
Ray’s cardboard
guitars. At
her foot is a
dulcimer.
* Vincent Van Gogh, to his brother Theo, 24 Sept., 1888 in Arles.
Translated by Mrs. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger,
ed. Robert Harrison, no. 542. http://webexhibits.org
OT H E R S B Y K I KO D E N Z E R :
Build Your Own Earth Oven
Dig Your Hands in the Dirt
Make a Simple Sundial
Hand Print Press
Make a Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer: Build this Gorgeous Sounding
Instrument from a 2x4, Cardboard, & Plywood. It’s cheap, Beautiful, & Easy-toBuild-and-Play
Kiko Denzer, January, 2013
ISBN: 9780615748931
Published by Hand Print Press (paper & PDF) under a creative commons license:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
You may share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for any non-commercial purpose
— but please do let us know! And YES!~ holler if you have ideas for a derivative project.
Downloadable PDF available free from www.handprintpress.com:
(AND 0RINT 0RESS s 0/" s "LODGETT /2 s s 541-438-4300
Also contact us! about dulcimer kits & (discounted!) bulk paperback orders
Contents
Foreword ............................................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
Tools & Materials: what you’ll need ..................................................................... 5
Step 1: The Neck ....................................................................................................................... 7
Neck Dimensions (chart) .......................................................................................... 8
Step 2: Frets: Locating Fret Slots .................................................................................. 12
Cutting Fret Slots ...................................................................................................... 13
Get Your Frets in Place ........................................................................................... 14
Fret Chart ..................................................................................................................... 15
Prepping Frets for Glueing ................................................................................... 16
Glueing the Frets in Place ..................................................................................... 18
Filing the Frets ............................................................................................................ 19
Fret Ends ....................................................................................................................... 20
Initial Shaping of the Neck ........................................................................................ 21
Fiddle Break! (Instrument photos) ............................................................................... 22
Step 3: The Plywood Back ......................................................................................... 26
Cutting the Blocks for Attaching the Neck .................................................. 29
Glueing Blocks to Base ........................................................................................... 30
Glueing Neck to Body ............................................................................................. 31
Cutting Brace Blocks for the Cardboard ....................................................... 32
Step 4: Selecting & Cutting Cardboard ..................................................... 34
Glueing Sides & Top .................................................................................................. 36
Preview: How to Determine the Proper Bridge Height ......................................... 38
Step 5: Lacquer Finish for the Neck .............................................................. 39
Step 6: Fitting the Cardboard Top ................................................................... 40
Step 7: Remanufacturing Tuners ..................................................................... 42
Step 8: Tuners: Installing.................................................................................................... 44
Mounting Tuners ........................................................................................................ 45
Step 9: Mounting the Bridge ................................................................................. 46
Step 10: Mounting Strings & Finishing the Bridge ........................ 47
Play your Dulcimer ............................................................................................................ 48
Basic Chord Chart ................................................................................................................ 50
Musical Resources ............................................................................................................... 51
STORIES: Meeting Ray ............................................................................................................... 52
FAME: An American Teacher & her Czech Students
Learn About Language & Harmony ............................................................... 59
About Hand Print Press (other titles) ......................................................... 61
Dulcimer Kits & Cottage Industry: ordering & participating .............. 62
I
Ray Jacobs one May in California; he was
teaching people to make something that looked
like a 3-string banjo out of cardboard and scrap
wood — but it sounded...
...amazing!
MET
It looked so simple, I thought “shoot, I
could play that!” Ray told stories about 20
years of teaching fourth graders, not just
so they could make and play these simple,
3-stringed instruments but so they could
participate in the world. He put an old V-8
engine in the classroom and challenged
them to take it apart and put it together;
he took them to a local pond to squelch
and splash and take buckets of pond water back to class, where they put it in split
55-gallon drums so they could play and
learn when their “other work” was done;
he shepherded 20 generations of kids into
5th grade, many of them with dulcimers
they had made themselves, on which they
could all play melody and chords — extraordinary gifts!
I thought, “someone should put this into
a book so every 4th grade teacher can do
what Ray did!” I’ve been a “teaching artist” in the Oregon schools, and know how
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is for kids to get good, hands-on activities.
When teachers are so bound by schedules,
test requirements, and policy that they
can’t afford to engage kids in anything
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outsider to do the creative projects.
Life and beauty grow by exchanges of
gratitude, grace, and peace, by which we
learn about love and feeling and how to
belong to something larger than our own
2
small selves.
It comes naturally, asking
only that we
participate.
Participation
makes community, and community
makes the soil where beauty feeds and
culture grows.
Ray’s dulcimer is the kind of gift that
makes it possible . But to measure the
exchange only in dollars is like trying to
grow a garden on concrete. Seeds — life!
— need dirt, and dirt came as a gift long
before we divided and converted it into a
speculative commodity. Real estate, property, (intellectual or material), belongs to
life, as we do. If we make merchandise of
everything we think, feel, say, or make,
we enslave ourselves. A free people sing,
celebrate, and share. Ray told me, “if I
can spend an hour or two making music,
it’s a good day.”
This book is published under a creative
commons license: please share the free
PDF. The paperback can be had from
Hand Print Press or Amazon; that price
helps pay production, distribution and,
(perhaps) some living and working expenses for author and family. Ray also
sells instructional CDs, insruments, as
well as his and Shirley’s music. Write
them at POB 794, Eureka MT 59917.
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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design, which leads to a tiny landing just below a trap door.
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reach the landing, you turn, put your right foot on the small
step and launch up into the shop. Coming down is not a
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TOOLS & MATERIALS:
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Ray playing one of his round-bodied guitars: this one was hanging on
the wall of the On the Fly Cafe where we stopped for breakfast on
the way to Bluebird lake. Ray wasn’t much bothered that it had a gaping hole in the back (by which it was hung on the wall); it made good
music while we waited for eggs and toast. Ray typically puts sound
holes around the edge instead of the center, both to maximize resonance and to minimize the visibility of interior structural elements.
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Ray with one of his cardboard dulcimers, made from a favorite beer
box; in the background is one of his guitars.
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Ray made his
bandsaw 35 years
ago, from a kit
step 1:
The
neck
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string length is 225¼8”,
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from nut to bridge
bridge
platform
make the sound hole by drilling holes at
the ends; then cut the rest out.
a
a
bridge
platform
thin rails help transfer vibration
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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step 2: LOCATING
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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get your frets in place!
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the fret chart
I
ray numbers the notes in roman numerals on the neck so you can
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Go slow, be careful, pay attention!
15
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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PREPPING FRETS FOR GLUEING
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
17
GLUEING THE FRETS IN PLACE
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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DRILL HOLES FOR STRING ANCHORS
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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fret ends
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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initial shaping of the neck
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
21
TIME FOR A BREAK!
Ray plays his
cardboard fiddle
22
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
Shirley Jacobs, photo
Here are a couple of
Ray’s other instruments:
a triangular fidde with a
more traditional look, and
a banjo built from a gourd.
Vibration from the strings gets into the soundbox
through the connections at the top and bottom of the
gourd, and through the bridge (a piece of brazing rod),
which sits on posts attached directly to the cedar top.
Shirley did the decorations.
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
23
Jon Crandell, photo
Jon Crandell, photo
24
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
Musicians in Madagascar,
photos courtesy of Smith bros.
Jared Smith (below, L) was the first person to
build a dulcimer from this book. He said, “The
neck started out as a round doug fir pole, that
I attened a face on using chisels, drawknives
and a hand plane — no power tools at all! I
used a 1-1/2” nail as the nut, three different
tuning pegs from the local guitar repair shop,
and gorilla glue to hold it together. Other than
that, I stuck to the instructions.”
Jared later told me about this home made
guitar that his brother John got in Madagascar
from the boy who made it. He traded the boy
his own fancy commercial travel guitar. The
body is carved out of one piece, covered by
a thin top with a soundhole. The strings are
fishing line and bike cables. One broke due to
rust, but the boy had apparently planned for
that; a few days after he gave John the guitar
he tracked him down and gave him a few
extra cables (you can see them wrapped up
around the headstock of the guitar). It has tapered wooden tuning pegs that actually work
remarkably well! For even more wonderful
hand-made inspiration, look up sothosounds.
org, and “landfill harmonic” on Vimeo.
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
25
step 3: MAKING
THE PLYWOOD BACK
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26
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
ROUTER BIT
DULCIMER BACK
JIG
optional: routing a
groove for a solid
edge
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
27
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28
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
cutting the blocks
for attaching the
neck to the back
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
29
GLUEING BLOCKS TO BASE
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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GLUEING NECK TO BODY
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
31
CUTTING BRACE BLOCKS FOR THE CARDBOARD
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32
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
33
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
35
glueing sides & top
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36
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
37
preview: how to determine
the proper bridge height
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38
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
step 5: lacquer finish
for the neck
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
39
step 6:
fitting the cardboard top
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Be sure not to glue the clamping boards to your instrument! Back them off the neck at least 1/8”.
40
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
HEY! SOUNDS GOOD!
Ray points out that hi-end speakers
are made from cardboard. The proof
is in the sound box...
INSTALL ANCHOR
SCREWS FOR THE
STRINGS
These are 1¼” screws —
almost any type will do, so
long as there are no sharp
threads at the top of the
shank that might
cut a string.
handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
41
step 6:
remanufacturing tuners
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
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handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
43
step 7: installing the tuners
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44
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
step 8: mounting the tuners
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handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
45
step 9: mounting the bridge
prior to stringing your instrument
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46
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
step 10: mounting the strings
& finishing the bridge
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handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
47
Play
your
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
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steps!
10
Each fret (except the dotted half-steps) indicates a note, which Ray numbers directly on the neck for ease of learning. The first note
on each string is simply the sound the string makes by itself, so “no. 7” is really the 8th note. This is not typical of most printed music.
handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
49
basic chord chart
50
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
musical resources
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Anthropologist friends brought back from Indonesia this
beautiful big spoon covered in goatskin and strung to serve
a different kind of nourishment.
handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
53
Jon Crandell photo
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handprintpress.com
Every two weeks, Ray and Shirley get together with a group of folks to sing, play, and share potluck. The week
my family and I were there, the group came to Ray and Shirley’s. About 20 of us circled up in the log cabin, with
Ray’s home-made dulcimers (and guitars), a wash tub bass, wooden spoons, standard guitars, drums, accordions,
fiddles, etc. We went around the circle, choosing, singing, and playing everything from old standards, to Beatles
tunes, to originals written by some of the group. Ray likes a smaller group — this one, he says, “has gotten a
little big.” Rita, one of the particpants, learned 20 songs on the dulcimer, and took them to the Czech Republic,
where she started a folkgroup with student teachers of the English language...(see story on p. 57)
Jon Crandell photo
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Rita Colins playing
one of Ray’s “Onion”
dulcimers. This one
has a spruce top.
Jon Crandell photo
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handprintpress.com
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handprintpress.com
Shirley with one of Ray’s
cardboard guitars: the
cardboard came from a
particular brand of bike
box which used to be just
the right single-thickness
cardboard, but now they
use double-ply — good for
the bike, too heavy for an
instrument top! Under the
soundboard is bracing, to
support the weight of
the bridge and distribute vibration.
Cardboard aside,
the unique features
are the way the neck
attaches on top of the
soundboard just
at the ends,
and the bridge
design.
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
57
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More of Rays innovations: the neck of this banjo “ oats” above the
soundbox (a gourd) connected solely at the bridge. No inner bracing
required; the neck provides all the strength needed.
58
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
FAME: An American teacher and her
Czech students learn language and
harmony by singing and playing…
by Rita Collins
Editor’s note: I met Rita Collins at Ray’s folk music potluck. She coordinates Arts and Education Programs
in Eureka, Montana. In 2008 she taught in the Czech Republic at the department of English language and
literature in the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University, in Brno. Her Czech students were studying to
become teachers of English language. When she learned that the department head was going to have a birthday,
she offered to teach her students a English-language birthday song to sing in celebration. They had so much
fun, they started FAME – or “Fun with American Music for Everyone” – which helped them improve their
command of the language, and invited them, informally, to share their pleasure and enthusiasm for something
much deeper than simply earning a degree or a living. Rita’s account of the project follows.
Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without
internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee
of external peace.
– Vaclav Havel
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
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Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
ABOUT
HAND PRINT PRESS
0/" s "LODGETT /2 s www.handprintpress.com
“What we learn to do, we learn by doing.” — Aristotle
Publishing means to make public – and
a healthy public participates in the life
of the nation — in every aspect of
work and life, not just shopping.
The founders understood that the
Latin root of “republic” means “things
of the public;” they believed that every
citizen shared responsibility for land,
ex
na edi clu
tu tio siv
ra n e e
l b of ng
ui th li
ld e sh
in bes
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t
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We offer books and experience to
help more people participate more
fully in their lives, and communities.
The titles on the website (our own,
and others’) address the arts of living,
from making stoves, ovens, and other
things, to growing food and building
houses, and otherwise learning to
follow nature’s creative (and chaotic)
principles.
livelihood, and our childrens’ futures.
Without a healthy, participating public
there can be no private nor common
wealth. Unless we all feed the goose,
there can be no golden eggs!
The arts of living can’t be abstracted.
Aristotle said, “what we learn to do,
we learn by doing.” So Hand Print
Press follows the way of the doer,
designer, artist, inventor in all of us,
who works to fit into her place and
his community, to marry beauty with
utility, and to restore and enrich the
sources of all beauty.
*
* Mud, Hands, A House
handprintpress.com
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
61
DULCIMER KITS: HOW TO ORDER
I don’t want to deprive you of the opportunity to exercise your own hands
and wits (as Bill Coperthwaite might
put it), but I also recognize that sometimes, it makes sense to let people do
what they love most, and trade for the
things they want but don’t have time
to make for themselves.
So — if you want a dulcimer but have
not time or space to do all the work
yourself, I know some craftsmen who
can provide you with dulcimer kits (or
even finished dulcimers, but I don’t
really want to deprive you of all the
fun!)
Dulcimer kits consist of a neck, back,
and all the bits and pieces: blocks,
cardboard, tuning pegs (already remanufactured), and strings. All you
have to do is put them together, glue
them up, decorate, and finish.
Ray was selling kits for $100 when I
met him in 2012, but I don’t want to
start a franchise here, I just want to
make sure that folks who want instruments can get them — and perhaps
help a few neighbors who want to
work at home doing what they love
to do.
I’m not sure how best to go about it,
but here’s a start: If you’d like a kit, get
in touch with me, either through the
contact form at handprintpress.com,
or at POB 576, Blodgett OR 907326,
541-438-4300, and I’ll put you in touch
with a maker and you can figure out
the details.
If you’re a maker, let me know that,
too, and I’ll add your name to the list.
That way, maybe we can hook up makers and players, teachers and learners
all where they live, so they can all
make music together, too!
steps!
10
62
Make A Ray Jacobs’ Rocky Mountain Dulcimer
handprintpress.com
Here’s
a guide
for anyone
in need of
good,
affordable
instruments
suitable for
beginners
and experts
alike. Teachers,
homeschoolers,
camp counselors,
church groups,
community
minstrels, &
all who like to
work with their
hands can use
it to transform
‘just junk’ into
songs, beauty, &
community.
HandPrintPress.com