By Butch Ross
The ReStrung article this time around comes from the Summer 1976 issue of Dulcimer Players News (Vol. 2 No. 3). In fact, quite a few of the forthcoming articles are gonna be culled from this issue. It must not have seemed like it at the time, but Summer ’76 was a watershed issue.
The cover story was the introduction of the new assistant-editor, a young lady (and new bride of then-editor Phil Mason) named Maddie Mason-MacNeil. Who, as I’m sure you know, would be the driving force behind this magazine for the next 32 years. There are reviews of Jean Ritchie’s new book “Dulcimer People,” Kevin Roth’s second album, and an interview with Howie Mitchell where they talk about the “Howie Mitchell” (aka 6½) fret (excerpts of this interview were reprinted in Vol. 50 No. 1). And Roger Nicholson introduced a tab for an Irish Waltz called “An Gaoth Andheas” which translates to “Sound Wind.” Yeah. That one. You literally heard it here first folks!
Park Gortney of East Sparta, Ohio, sent in a photo of a resonator dulcimer he made (years before Homer Ledford made the “first” one), Geoff Bishop of Danville, California, sent in a photo of his “worlds smallest dulcimer” clocking in a at whopping 3.705″ in length (again, long before Don Neuhauser was making his “tiny” dulcimers), and at the Walnut Valley “Spring Thing” in Winfield, Kansas, the dulcimer competition was won by a young buck from Keller, Texas, named David Schnaufer.
Like I said, watershed.
This month I want to focus on an article originally written by Nick Engler titled “The Doubleback”. Of course, he’s referring to what we now call the Galax back, possum board, or, yes, the Double Back. It’s mostly an educational article with instructions on how to fashion your own. But it’s the history of the concept, and how far back it goes that I find most interesting.
In the coming months we’re going to focus on tunes in weird modes and a lot of fun stuff, but right now let’s look at the surprisingly long history of “the Doubleback.” – B.R.
The Doubleback
By Nick Engler, © 1976
I had stopped in at the Smithsonian to talk to Scott Odell, the man who has collected and restored most of the Smithsonian’s dulcimers. I was there to research old-time dulcimore construction, I told him – looking for good ideas to steal.
“Have you seen Jacob Melton’s dulcimer in the Wood Products display?”
I admitted I had missed it.
“Well, it might be with your while to look it over,” Scott told me, and we both went over to Wood Products to have a gander.
“Notice anything unusual?” he asked, pointing at Melton’s instrument.
“It has a double back!” I exclaimed. “Now what good does that do?”
Every dulcimore player has noticed that when they set their instrument on a wooden table, propped up on a pencil or two, and strum, the sound produced is louder, richer than when the instrument is held on the lap. Putting it up on pencils frees the backside to vibrate, and the table acts as a resonator. In the lap, the backside is damped so it can’t vibrate, and the human body makes a very poor resonator – with very few exceptions: once I met a man who could play the dulcimore louder than anyone else I had ever known. When I inquired into the matter, I came to find out he had a hollow wooden leg.
Melton’s idea was to help the rest of us who are not so fortunate. His second back does just what a table and two pencils will do. It was a good idea and I resolved to borrow it.
Driving home to Athens Ohio, I had time to ponder Melton’s innovation. There was room for improvement, to be sure. The permanent second back seemed awkward and funny-looking. And I could envision times when I would not want it; times when I’d want to play soft and low. I applied myself to the problem and by the time I arrived at Appalachian Strings in Athens, I had a whole new invention designed and duly named; a detachable false back for dulcimore, dubbed the Doubleback.
The Doubleback is a simple contraption, having only three major parts. The false back itself I call the table. Two strips of wood, called braces, run perpendicular to the length of the table and serve to hold the dulcimer a short distance above it. On the end of the braces are little contrivances that hold the dulcimore to the Doubleback, which, for want of a better word, I call grabbers.
The table is cut from a piece of ¼” thick hardwood to the shape of the soundbox of the dulcimore. I cut my first table to conform exactly to the shape of the dulcimore, but I got slightly better results in later experiments when I cut the table ¼” larger than the sound box, all the way around. This extends the resonating surface of the table beyond the edge of the dulcimore – gets the sound out where it can be heard, so to speak.
The braces are cut more than ¼” high but at least ⅜” wide for strength and durability. They are rounded on the topside so as to make as little surface contact as possible with the back of the dulcimore. The less surface contact the more the dulcimer is free to vibrate. The positioning of the braces on the table is critical. They should be placed as close to the opposite poles as they can go, without making the dulcimer unsteady. Too far north and south, and the dulcimore will tip. They should not be positioned at the widest part of the table, or the dulcimore will easily slide out of the grabbers.
If the Doubleback is being made for a two-chambered (hourglass) dulcimore, the braces can be placed slightly north of one chamber and south of the other. Placement for a single-chambered (teardrop) dulcimore requires some fooling around, but this basic rule applies: one brace north of the chamber, one south.
The grabbers are made from three ⅛” laminations of hardwood; the grain of each succeeding running perpendicular to the last. This gives each of the Grabbers extra strength which they need if you like to lay into your dulcimore with a pick. The grabbers are cut to conform exactly with the sides of the dulcimore. If your instrument has an overhanging back or lip, an indentation is cut in the grabber to accommodate this lip. Lipless or smooth-sided instruments require extended grabbers faced with leather. The friction of the leather against the wood is sufficient to hold the dulcimore down when there is no lip to grab on to.
Three of the four grabbers are fixed in place. The forth slides out a half inch or so on a brass pin and is snapped into place by a spring hidden in the end of a brace. To attach the Doubleback to the dulcimore, pull out the removable grabber (see the detail of the working parts of the Doubleback on the figure accompanying this article), slide the dulcimore into position, and release the moveable grabber and all will be snug and secure. To detach, just reverse the process.
I have made several Doublebacks to date, for Appalachian String Dulcimores of various shapes and sizes. The results are encouraging, if not downright exciting. The invention does exactly what I want it to do: it frees the backside of the dulcimore to serve as a second soundboard, making the sound produced much louder, fuller, and richer. The table of the doubleback does for the dulcimore what the resonator does for the banjo, as my banjo-picking friend pointed out to me.
“Ingenious,” he said after trying one out.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Jacob Melton and I make a good team.”
Galax Style Dulcimers
Compare the dulcimer above to the photo of the Melton dulcimer, online at si.edu/object/nmah_606110.
In his “Tales and Traditions” column in DPN Vol. 27 No. 1 (2001), Ralph Lee Smith wrote,
“I must sadly report that Jacob Ray Melton of Galax, Virginia, the great maker of traditional Galax-style dulcimers, passed away … on October 28 [2000] after a long battle with cancer. His passing deprives us of a precious link to old-time Virginia dulcimers and dulcimer playing. It also deprives us of a wonderfully warm-hearted friend … For some time prior to his death, Jacob Ray had discontinued making dulcimers. This left interested persons virtually without a source for obtaining a traditional-style instrument of the Virginia type. I am glad to be able to report that Ben Seymour of Tryon, North Carolina, has stepped in to fill this important need.”
