Gut Strings on Early Mountain Dulcimers

[strumelia]

Check the thread just above this one by banjimer: Traditional Music Treasures from the Past; second post about "lonesome tunes"

"HOW TO PLAY THE DULCIMORE
At rare intervals in our search we encountered a fiddle, old, used to service and evidently a member of the family, with all the distinguishing traits of rough appearance and dependable quality. More frequently we found the "dulcimore," which is the real indigenous Appalachian instrument. It is made in the mountains and fits its environment in quite a charming and piquant way. It seems most thoroughly a part of the spirit of the culture represented by the old songs! In shape it is most like a "pochette," the little instrument carried by dancing-masters in the olden days, although very much larger of course. It is strung with three strings, either gut or wire. Two of these are tuned in unison while the third is tuned a fifth below. The outer one of the two in unison is the only frettled string, the other two supplying a drone bass, giving somewhat the effect of the bagpipe. The dulcimore (accent on the last syllable) is held on the knees and the strings are plucked with a piece of leather or a quill. The melody is played upon the fretted string, for which purpose a quill or small stick is employed. We found that the dulcimore players were very particular as to the media employed, and that the adherents of the different schools, divided by the use of quill or leather, were distinctly temperamental in their allegiance! "

It would seem that in 1917 "dulcimores" with gut strings existed in the Appalachian Mountains.

Yes this excerpt was already mentioned earlier in this thread- but it seems to be the ONLY mention that anyone knows of concerning gut strings. According to Ralph Lee Smith, who has examined probably hundreds of very old dulcimers, many from the 1800's, he has never seen an Appalachian dulcimer with gut strings or remnants of gut strings. I'd be more inclined to rely on Ralph's vast observations than to make a rather large assumption based on a single fleeting mention within a description obviously written by someone with limited familiarity with the instrument.

[fortytwo]

Just because no one now alive has reported seeing gut strings on very old dulcimers does not warrant a conclusion that they were not used. What are the challenges that a piece of gut on a dulcimer fretboard would face to last a century or so? Steel strings merely rust. Mice, roaches, and other bugs don't eat them, nor does dry rot or mildew. Gut strings on the other hand... And they were gut. Latex, nylon, rayon and other synthetics hadn't been invented yet. I wasn't around in 1917, but 20 years later the balloons I played with were pig bladders. None lasted long. I will be very surprised if a gut string is ever found to have survived on a dulcimer of that era.

Actually, when you read Brockway's "Quest of the lonesome tunes" article and consider things in the isolation of the homesteads in the SE KY Cumberlands gut (razorback, groundhog, or cat - when I was young all gut strings were referred to as "cat-gut") would have been more available than any kind of metal. This was even before the days of the "drummer" wagons of the 30's. No roads. None. A drummer/peddler would have transported anything they were selling by mule "no vehicle with wheels is seen except in the vicinity of town". Brockway states that most of the songs they collected were simply sung - no instrumental accompaniment. Where would the builder of a dulcimer (Brockway states they were not "contaminated" by exposure to guitars, or banjo's) find a steel string? The surprising thing is that gut was not the dominant string for those old dulcimers. Granted steel fiddle strings were available, and possibly the source of dulcimer strings in the "big towns" like Pine Mountain. The folks Brockway visited had never been to a town as large as Pine Mountain - in their entire life. Not only was this area hostile to wheels, it was hostile to walking. Creeks and game trails were the highways there. This isolation was the very factor that preserved the old songs from change. The lifestyle and culture were so "uncivilized" by today's standards that many cannot mentally process it. This was pre-auto, pre-wagon, pre-coal oil lamp, even pre-tallow candle. However it was not pre-gut. I can find no persuasive logic that gut strings were not fairly common on the old dulcimers of that era. These were front porch or fireplace instruments - didn't have to project sound very far. And a steel string would cost money; something these folks simply didn't have.

Even rural life in the 40's had evolved at least a half dozen generations beyond the SE KY Cumberlands in 1916. And, that was more primitive than most today can imagine. Even with paved roads and autos, I knew many rural folks who had never been outside the county. I lived my pre-college days within 10 miles of a dulcimer builder. Went by his house when we "went to town" in the fall to get school garb. Never heard of him until I bought one of his dulcimers a few years ago. I knew one fiddle player and 2 or 3 guitar players. Never saw a dulcimer until college and J. J. Niles & Jean Ritchie concerts. Each of us today processes more outside information than SE Cumberland folks how lived in the hollers did in several lifetimes. It's hard to think no TV, radio, phone, newspaper, contact with a person over 10 miles away - in your entire life, but that was life in the SE KY Cumberland hollers!

[fortytwo]

Next to last sentence should have read "each of us in one day processes more information..."

[Robin the Busker]

Hi Fortytwo,

Many thanks for your input.

You are right that we cannot discount gut strung mountain dulcimers as they do appear in the reference you quoted (I've also seen a few other references but I can't for the life of me remember where? However, there is also a chance that those writers were also referencing Howard Brockway ).

That's why I asked in my original post if anyone had seen or better still played a gut strung pre-revival dulcimer. The instrument is, as you have described, a possibility due to the nature of the region. However, finding any physical evidence is proving difficult - whereas they are plenty of examples of wire strung instruments.

Ken Bloom has pointed out how the design would need to vary between a wire strung zither or a gut strung zither. He has also raised the possibility of mixed stringing of gut and wire, and copper wire wound gut strings on pre-dulcimer zithers. I had interpreted Howard Brockway's comment "It is strung with three strings, either gut or wire." as meaning two different instruments either fully wire strung or fully gut strung. However, after thinking about what Ken has said, I can see that Howard's comment could also be interpreted as him having seen some dulcimers with mixed stringing with wire top strings and a gut or wire wound gut bass string - perhaps he saw one with a Spanish guitar string fitted as a bass string?

We can speculate but the lack of examples of gut strung mountain dulcimers makes their existance a rare possibility. Perhaps one will turn up.

Robin

[strumelia]

I don't feel the argument that gut strings would have all disintegrated by now holds water. Plenty of very old instruments of all kinds had gut strings that survived just fine for well over a hundred years or much longer- violins, lutes, minstrel era banjos with not only gut strings but thin calfskin heads, etc. Gut is pretty tough and at least end remnants of gut strings could easily survive wound around tuning pegs since the early 1800's.

[Ken Bloom]

One point that I think has been missed here. We are used to having whatever we need available to us whenever we want it and that includes strings. In the 19th century, people used what they could get. Wire for metal strings had many other uses and thus was relativelyh easiy available. If a gut string was used on some dulcimer way back when, it is most likely because it was what they could get. It is a mistake to draw too many conclusions from one simple fact. Be wary.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.com

[strumelia]

Alan Lomax, upon noticing her nasty old rusty banjo strings, once asked the great Irish tinker wandering ballad singer Margaret Barry where on earth she was able to get hold of new banjo strings when she needed them. She replied simply: "Bicycle cables".
I also read an account somewhere of someone pulling wire from door screens to use for instrument strings in a pinch.

[Ken Bloom]

Exactly my point. Thanks Lisa. You'll find hundreds of examples like this. People use what they have. I know I have.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.com

[Randy Adams]

just saw this little saying.....applies to many questions pertaining to dulcimer history does it not?
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

[strumelia]

That's true Randy, but along those same lines, we cannot completely rule out anything based on lack of evidence-
like... just because we have no evidence of musicians playing French tunes on harpsichords for square dances in Appalachia in 1830 doesn't mean they weren't doing that. Or, just because we have no evidence of musicians playing traditional Chinese music on button accordions in Appalachia in 1840 doesn't mean they weren't doing that.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." ...but also- "Absence of evidence is not evidence of presence."

[Randy Adams]

Yeah ur always a step ahead of me ain't ya Lisa... : )...
And also....Absence of evidence leads to educated speculation & extrapolation

[strumelia]

But...I thought you were always a step ahead of me?

And don't forget
Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder