Self-Made Capo & Noter

[Charles B.]

Hi!

Can anybody give me some tips on how to make a self-made capo & noter? 🙄

I only found one capo in internet over here for 28 € 💰 and I could buy a lot of lumber for that amount! 😉 (Retirement is slim pickings here in Germany; LOL 😂 )

But finding a piece of oak is no problem and I also have N-scale model railroad cork roadbed and some felt. 

Of course I don't want to loose any fingers notching out the oak block. (I already cut the tip of my left, middle finger really bad cutting up carrots 🥕🥕 for bean soup 🍲 the day before my Dulcimer arrived!😬)

I would also need some sort of threaded insert or "furniture nut"🔩 to thread the oak block for a thumb-screw.

My Fret board is 1 3/8" wide and 11/16" high.

But how wide or thick should a capo be? 🤔 (It has to be wide enough to drill into for the screw but not too wide.)

🥕🥕🥕🥕😕

After 5 days of cutting up carrots (plus my finger) it still hurts to play so I decided to put my 4th string back on the Dulcimer and play with a noter for a while.

(Getting this already used string back on was really a chore; this Romanian Dulcimer is built like a Cello on the end and there is also no good place to clip my tuner-gizmo onto either. 😂)

I'm using a hard, little 3/8" cardboard tube but it's a bit too short being only 2 3/8" long.

How long should a good noter be and should the tip be tapered a tad bit?

While playing "Bury Me Beneath the Willow Tree" a noter sounds nice but I have to grab over to the A-string a few times with the end of the noter to pick up the low A & the low B.

Bye for now!

Charles

 

 

 

[KWL]

Here is a link to another discussion at is similar to this one.

I don't know what parts you can find around you, but the capo below works well and is easy to make.

https://jcdulcimer.ecwid.com/Working-Class-Capo-p51492762

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

[Charles B.]

7 minutes ago, KWL said:

Here is a link to another discussion at is similar to this one.

I don't know what parts you can find around you, but the capo below works well and is easy to make.

https://jcdulcimer.ecwid.com/Working-Class-Capo-p51492762

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Ken!

I love it! 😃

Charles

[NoterMan]

That nut and bolt capo is easy to make --the wood bits don't have to be perfectly round, and they don't even need the cork liners,  Any bolt with a wingnut works just fine, I put a piece of rubber tubing over the bolt between the blocks.  

Noters can be anything (look at the ones in my avatar photo), but cardboard is far too soft.  Yes, the one at the bottom is a stone pestle from a mortar & pestle set!   You can use glass, metal or wood dowels (plastic is too soft).  Bamboo is perfect. Wooden clothes pins work well.  Chopsticks are good but very small in diameter.  You want a hoter to be 10-12cm long and about the same diameter as your index finger.

I've attached an essay I wrote several years ago about how to get started playing in noter & drone style.  I hope you like it. 

Get Noterized.pdf

[Charles B.]

1 hour ago, NoterMan said:

That nut and bolt capo is easy to make --the wood bits don't have to be perfectly round, and they don't even need the cork liners,  Any bolt with a wingnut works just fine, I put a piece of rubber tubing over the bolt between the blocks.  

Noters can be anything (look at the ones in my avatar photo), but cardboard is far too soft.  Yes, the one at the bottom is a stone pestle from a mortar & pestle set!   You can use glass, metal or wood dowels (plastic is too soft).  Bamboo is perfect. Wooden clothes pins work well.  Chopsticks are good but very small in diameter.  You want a hoter to be 10-12cm long and about the same diameter as your index finger.

I've attached an essay I wrote several years ago about how to get started playing in noter & drone style.  I hope you like it. 

Get Noterized.pdf 86.63 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks so much for your essay; I printed it out nicely on paper and really enjoyed reading it!

I like using my noter because my Dulcimer sounds better with 4 strings. Now I have exact equal volume for bass, drone and melody (the melody was too weak with 3 strings).

Also I can usually keep my eyes more on the notes which helps me not to loose my place so much. (This was also my problem playing the pipe organ because looking from the notes to my hands and up again made me loose my place a lot.)

Of course I would like to learn my songs measure by measure and then play the the whole song by memory (but some people say this is bad).

Playing organ was a nightmare: playing 2 voices with the right hand on the upper manual, 2 voices on the lower with the left hand plus two feet on the 30 bass pedals (which northern German organs have).

The notes also hung there like clusters of grapes 🍇 to have to sort out as fast as lightning. 🙄

Anyway I review the tabs but only play by the notes.

Bye!

Charles