hanging a Yocky dulcimer on the wall

[arkevin]

Hi,
I have a yocky dulcimer and I'd like to hang it on the wall to get it off the floor (I have a floor stand). But Yocky's don't have a neck. Has anyone built a wall hanger for a Yocky? Can you post a photo?

Here is a photo from Yocky's webpage, but I'm interested in different ideas.

http://www.tomyocky.com/index1.html (scroll down a little and you will see a wall hanger)

Kevin

[Greenflash]

Listen, my friend. Do NOT hang your instrument on the wall! For one thing, in my humble opinion, this will not do your instrument one bit of good. Think of what floats around in the atmosphere of your home. I know, because I've seen it first hand. Put it in a good case where it belongs. Show a fine instrument the respect it deserves. Nuff said.

[folkfan]

I think the type that you've show with the support coming in from under the wide part of the upper bout is probably the easiest way to hang a Yocky or another dulcimer designed with out a protruding peg head, but with a curved design. Wouldn't work for a TMB, in other words.

If you do decide to go with the wall hanging display, remember to use an interior wall (exteriors can get too cold or hot depending on insulation) and out of direct sunlight. Good luck on finding a hanger. I use floor stands myself, but have often wished for more interior wall space as floor stands can get to be a bit of a clutter.

[GWentland]

I would use a loop made of rawhide or a leather shoe lace around the neck and a couple tuners. I would put a screw hook or screw eye in the wall to hang the rawhide loop on. As for hanging it on the wall, let me say, that there are many guitar collectors that think nothing of hanging custom made guitars that are worth over $10,000 on their wall. The dulcimers that I don't like stand in a corner.

[Jeannie in Paradise]

I want to add my two cents worth about hanging dulcimers on the wall instead of putting them away in their cases to keep them clean and "protected." I have three good "go-to" dulcimers that I play fairly frequently. Two of them hang on our same living room wall as several pieces of framed art, and the other dulcimer is on a floor stand very close to them. Yeah, I know, they get dusty, etc., but I want to SEE them and LOVE them and PLAY them. When I put them away in a case, I FORGET them! On the wall or the stand, I can grab one of my dulcimers and play whenever I have a few spare moments - don't have to pull a case out of a closet, lay it on a table or couch, unzip it, remove the dulcimer, etc. The wall and stands work for me!

FYI, on most of my five dulcimers I've made a sturdy double or triple loop of leather shoelace that ties around the head beneath the strings. Of course, I'm VERY careful when putting them back on the wall, so as not to rub off the finish. Hmmm... maybe I can post a photo of a couple of dulcimers with these loops.

Cheers,
Jeannie

[5kwkdw3]

Jeanie I see by your pic's that on your octave dulcimer you have the strap that's been the talk of a few threads here. My question is, do you run the strap under your legs or some other method? That's the one I posted of using under my legs and it firmly locking down the instrument with little or no movement. Kevin.

[Jeannie in Paradise]

Jeanie I see by your pic's that on your octave dulcimer you have the strap that's been the talk of a few threads here. My question is, do you run the strap under your legs or some other method? That's the one I posted of using under my legs and it firmly locking down the instrument with little or no movement. Kevin.

To clarify, it's not an octave dulcimer, Kevin. Even at its 23 in. VSL it's still tuned to the same DAd as my full-size dulcimers, not one octave higher! That's one thing I totally *LOVE* about it! And the sound is great!

I've experimented with what's the best way for me to wear my strap. What I've settled on is wearing it around my waist. I'll attach a photo of me playing Amazing Grace at the cemetery about 10 days ago.

Cheers,
Jeannie

[Bonnie]

Harpmaker makes a very nice dulcimer hanger. I have them in my music room on the wall. They are similar to the dulcimer holders his stands use. I'm sure he could fabricate one specifically for your Yocky,

[KenH]

There are any number of wall hangers that can be adapted to your Yocky.

I'm another who votes for hanging dulcimers on interior walls out of direct sun, rather than hiding them in cases. I live in the humid South, and if you keep instruments in cases when the humidity is high, you risk an outbreak of mold/mildew. Especially if you are other places in the country where "swamp coolers" are the common alternative to true air conditioners. Mold is NOT something you want to have to try and remove from the interior of your instrument.

Also, "Out of sight, out of mind" is a Truth. If it's cased you won't play it nearly as often.

[cactus]

I live in Tucson, AZ and our humidity has ranged from 4% to a high of 11% so you can imagine that house is not exactly dripping with moisture. It is a fairly constant 28% in my office so I must keep instruments in their cases with humidifiers. If the room humidifier is used to get and keep the humidity at 40 - 50% I am extremely uncomfortable. Therefore hanging an instrument on a wall is rarely done around here.

The best humidifier I have found is Oasis brand which is a tube that shrinks when low on distilled water. They don't leak (over three years use so far) and don't scratch the dulcimer or guitar finish. GuardFathers have been around for decades and they work but are not as easy to check for water content.

Dust is easily blown out of most instruments by short blasts of compressed air such as found in Dust Off which is sold at office supply stores. It is astounding how much guck comes out of instruments.

[tytymhorau]

I have a 1990 Homer Ledford dulcimer that I've kept hung on the wall in my living room for the past 22 years with no ill effect. In fact, her tone has just gotten sweeter and sweeter with time! I keep a woven runner behind it to prevent scuffs to the back, and check the leather strap regularly for cracks or weakness that might cause a fall. Dust and debris accumulates over time (as it still seems to on our cased dulcimers from when we have them out for playing), which I remove by placing the dulcimers on a towel on the bed and GENTLY AND CAREFULLY using a small shop vac (no brush attachment, just the bare plastic tube) to lift it away. I carefully keep my finger between the shop vac tube and the dulcimer surface so the tube never contacts the wood (that would leave nasty scuffs and scratches!), and linger over each sound hole to suck out any debris that has gotten inside. The dulcimers come away from these "vacuum baths" looking and sounding as good as new!

This is what it looks like.

[arkevin]

I like the tapestry in the back - makes it look classy. Nice job.

Kevin