Kantele from The year 2000!

A little nostalgia this time......

My interest in Kanteles goes a long way back to my early 20's but the reference point was the fabulous book of old Kantele drawings by Rauno Nieminen published in 1984 which I had ordered from Finland via fax (amazing how we did things before the Internet took hold)

I took a year to make it on and off, mostly by hand, completing in the year 2000 in my back garden.



Made from a recycled pallet runner of Poplar and pinewood, It was always more artifact than an instrument, smaller than the 5 string Kanteles I make today but it does play. It has had several different stringing and tuning pin stages, painted several times but now in black it has wooden violin pegs and .010" strings tuned to B, c#, d#', e f#

The sizes of this one are100mm wide and 480mm long

Introduction video

Playing example

The instrument now has a new home in Walthamstow, London E17, birthplace of William Morris and my own instrument making Career.



For my website and current Kanteles  see here

Half fretting the fingerboard for the épinette des Vosges

Sorry it's been a while, it's been a busy time!
Plans are now available to purchase and download for this instrument either from my website or from the link at the bottom of this article,  please feel to post any questions regarding this instrument.

One distinguishing feature of  this épinette is that it has half frets which can seem a difficult thing to do at first. Some makers cut the slot across all frets chromatically and simply install the fret on the ones required. This leaves fret slots to fill or left as they are but is acceptable.
For mine I take advantage of the thicker fingerboard and cut the half slots at an angle.

I then cut the fret with the tang cut off on one end only.
note that this is the reverse of what is usually done,  the cut tang is on the inside not outside.

Some titebond is placed in rhe skot and the fret is then hammered in.
The slots have to be cut deep so there will be slots to fill with rosewood sawdust or filler If you wanted to another way to you could use fingerboard bindings instead cutting the tangs off all the frets.

Plans to purchase

6 string epinette  New 2012 model,  

When you purchase the PDF Download plans you receive a set of folders conyaining my original ink plans alongside the new CAD plans and photos

£10.00

Stick Dulcimer G tuning Tutorials

Melody examples




Chords

Stick Dulcimer in Gdg tuning (part 2) comparing G and D models

Alternative plans now available for this tuning.
www.michaeljking.com/plans.htm
My 2012 Stick Dulcimer comes with pearl or abalone position markers, zero fret and a handmade hard case as standard, I will only be making a small number as always.
Over the next couple of Videos I will play some examples

plansd available for the updated 2021 version here: https://payhip.com/lyreshop

Stick Dulcimer in Gdg tuning (part one)

Alternative plans now available for this tuning.
www.michaeljking.com/plans.htm
My 2012 Stick Dulcimer comes with pearl or abalone position markers, zero fret and a handmade hard case as standard, I will only be making a small number as always.
Over the next couple of Videos I will explore this tuning and give you a chance to compare it to the "Dad" tuned older brother. In this first part I play an improvised piece and then demonstrate the sound with different plectrums.
I still have a few spaces this year to make one for commission,  or for those interested in making one I will be making the plans available for sale  for £5.00 here:

Gdg Stick Dulcimer plans

My Youtube videos showcasing this shorter scaled Gdg Stick Dulcimer will be out this week, but for those interested in making one I will be making the plans available for sale  for £5.00 here:

Gdg tuned Stick Dulcimer coming soon

The earliest instruments I made of this type were back in 1999 and were very short scaled for my kids to play. When I started making these for musicians I increased the scale length to guitar lengths but kept the same tuning. Around 2006 I changed to the Mountain Dulcimer pitch of Dad for comparability with that instruments and the tabs available. My current offering this year has the original tuning but with a more ideal scale length, this will make playing tunes even easier and it has the benefit of 12 years plus of making them.