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Dulcimer Maker: the Craft of Homer Ledford

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Dulcimer Maker: the Craft of Homer Ledford University of Kentucky UKnowledge Cultural History History 1984 Dulcimer Maker: The Craft of Homer Ledford R. Gerald Alvey Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Alvey, R. Gerald, "Dulcimer Maker: The Craft of Homer Ledford" (1984). Cultural History. 10. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_cultural_history/10 DULCIMER MAKER Homer C. Ledford DULCIMER MAKER., The Craft of HOMER LEDFORD., R. Gerald Alvey PHOTOGRAPHS BY Jerry Schureman WITH A FOREWORD BY Ron Pen THE UNNERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 1984, 2003 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Frontispiece: Homer C. Ledford in his shop. Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-8131-9051-8 (pbk: acid-free paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses To THE MEMORY OF WM. HUGH JANSEN This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IX FOREWORD XIII INTRODUCTION 1 I. HOMER LEDFORD: THE MAN AND CRAFTSMAN 7 II. THE ANATOMY OF THE LEDFORD DULCIMER 51 III. THE LEDFORD DULCIMER IN CONTEXT III AFTERWORD 171 AUDEOGRAPHY 176 NOTES 181 INDEX 193 This page intentionally left blank ILLUSTRATIONS DIAGRAMS The Ledford Three-String Dulcimer 24 A Ledford Four-String Dulcimer in C-Major (Ionian) Tuning 90 PHOTOGRAPHS Homer C. Ledford frontispiece 1. Edna Ritchie Baker with early Ledford dulcimer 20 2. Some of Homer's carvings 22 3. Homer's traditional performing stance 28 4. Homer's first mandolin and recent fancy mandolin 33 5. Homer's banjos 36 6. Homer's guitar 37 7. Homer's sweetheart and teardrop dulcimers 39 8. Homer's dulcitar 49 9. Homer's dulcibro 49 10. Tracing pattern of dulcimer top 57 11. Tracing pattern of sound hole 58 12. Drilling peg holes in pegbox 60 13. Pegbox slots to receive sides 61 14. Tracing pattern of end block 62 IS. End-block slots to receive sides 63 16. Notch in end block for ballad end of strings 63 17. Old-style end-block assembly with stationary bridge 63 18. Under side of hollowed-out fingerboard 66 19. Using lucite scale to mark fret, nut, and bridge positions 67 20. Slot in fingerboard for nut 67 21. Punching holes for staple-type frets 68 22. Using fretsaw to make grooves for guitar-type frets 68 23. Shaping peg on sanding drum 69 24. Using peg trimmer to shape peg stem 70 25. Carving scalloped peg head 71 26. Pegs positioned in board for lacquering 71 27. Cutting off ends of top even with fingerboard 76 28. Positioning fingerboard between pegbox and end block 77 29. Punching holes for staple-type frets 77 30. Positioning back before sawing flush 78 31. Affixing maker's card to inside of back 78 32. Using bent nail to create purfling 79 33. Using homemade clamps to install sides 80 34. Homemade clamps holds sides until glue dries 80 35. Completing the side installation 81 36. Sawing off ends of back flush with end block 83 37. Using pocketknife to trim rough edges 84 38. Driving staple-type frets into fingerboard 85 39. Using homemade fret-maker 86 40. Drilling holes in pegs for strings 88 41. Proper method of stringing the dulcimer 88 42. Proper stringing of 4-string dulcimer 89 43. Proper stringing of 3-string dulcimer 89 44. Homemade press for making 2-piece back 94 45. Tapping inlay in place in 2-piece back 95 46. Book-matched dulcimer back, with inlay 96 47. Sawing pearl design 99 48. Masking for mother-of-pearl inlay 100 49. Inlaid mother-of-pearl 100 50. Inlaid mother-of-pearl 101 5l. Fine tuners 103 52. Use of rubber band to secure dulcimer on lap 107 53. Homer's homemade dulcimer stand 108 54. Homer's homemade dulcimer case 109 55. Summer, 1983 126 56. View of Homer's shop 132 57. View of Homer's shop 135 58. Portrait of Homer and Calista at home 140 59. Homer at work 150 60. Standard hand tools modified to Homer's craft 157 6l. Homer's homemade pincher clamps 157 62. Homer's bicentennial dulcimer 161 63. Sleeve of the Ledford family record 168 This page intentionally left blank FOREWORD So, you just listened to Jean Ritchie's poignant recording of the old ballad "Barbara Allen" and now you want to buy a dulcimer? Well, come along with me. I know just where we should go-Winchester, Kentucky, where the Appalachian foothills embrace the rolling fields of the Bluegrass. Let us stroll together through the town's College Park neighborhood, a pleasant, tidy residential area not too far from the old courthouse square. Immediately we are bathed in an aura of small-town friendli­ ness; people wave and cordially call out a greeting as we pass cozy ranch-style homes. There is an abundance of greenery, and trees crowd the driveways and sidewalks. Splashes of flowers grace the spacious lawns and backyards. Walking around Homer Ledford's neighborhood you might be considerably underwhelmed by the normalcy of it all. The only ec­ centricity to be found is a distinctive mailbox standing sentinel at the curb fronting the Ledford property. On closer inspection, you notice that the mailbox is surmounted by a hand-carved dulcimer. It is the solitary clue informing us that behind this unremarkable exte­ rior lurks an extraordinary world populated by beauty and art, craft and creativity. After admiring themailbox.weamblealongsidethehouse.no­ ticing the verdant vegetable patch out back, and arrive at the door to Homer Ledford's shop. This door is the portal to a bustling cacophony of activity. Built onto the basement of his home, the shop includes a workbench cluttered with an arsenal of tools-every tool invested with a very specific function in Homer's craft. There are power tools xiv FOREWORD placed about in orderly confusion; there is a belt sander that pulls down from the ceiling; there are parts and pieces of musical instru­ ments slung on the walls in various states of undress, old posters and photographs bearing testimony to an international musical career, piles of specially selected black walnut and spruce; and there is Homer himself-long, lanky, bespectacled, and decked out in his customary generous smile and well-worn C.P. Martin baseball cap. Born September 27, 1927, in Ivyton, Tennessee, Homer has dedi­ cated his life to creating both music and musical instruments that brilliantly reflect his Appalachian cultural heritage. Homer has suc­ ceeded in making the traditional arts glow vibrantly at a time when the clamor of popular music-as-commodity has threatened to drown out the sweet strains of traditional indigenous music. In his humble and generous fashion, Homer has helped save a culture from extinc­ tion, and more importantly, he has passed that cultural expression on to future generations through the legacy of his extraordinary in­ struments and through his musical performance. Ledford is the very model of a traditional craftsman. He learned his trade through oral tradition and informal apprenticeship in his community in the Tennessee hill country, at the John C. Campbell School, and at Berea College. I have heard him say in an only half­ comedic way, "this here's my shop/, while pointing to his ancient pocketknife. Although he uses a vast array of tools to fashion his instruments, a large percentage of the work is still accomplished with just his pocketknife and his adept carving skills. Homer has continued to perfect the dulcimer by ameliorating the inaccuracies of scale, increasing the dimensions of the sound box, improving the endpin construction, and polishing the style of the scroll headstock. A dulcimer constructed by Homer Ledford is recog­ nizable as kith and kin to the earliest known Eastern Kentucky in­ struments, and yet a Homer Ledford dulcimer is vastly superior in tone, tuning, function, and appearance. These are instruments that will continue to live and sing for generations, long after their creator is no longer with us. Scholars have frequently puzzled over that curious uncharted region lying between tradition and innovation, between past and present, craft and art. It is precisely the negotiation of these equivo­ cal areas that makes Homer Ledford such a splendid artisan and art­ ist. Homer has maintained the integrity of Appalachian dulcimer design in the Cumberland highlands lineage of "Uncle" Ed Thomas and Jethro Amburgy. After an astounding 5,910 dulcimers, the clas­ sic hand-carved lines of the heart-shaped sound holes, the overhang- FOREWORD xv ing sides, and the proportions of the hourglass body have been care­ fully sustained and refined.
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