Tignor Traditional Replica #1:7-17-2025

John D. Tignor

Here’s a brief summary of John D. Tignor:
June 27, 1922 – June 7, 1982

John D. Tignor attended Hindman Settlement School. While there he attended shop class under then instructor and famous Kentucky dulcimore maker: Jethro Amburgey. Jethro, was closely acquianted with the most famous: Uncle Ed Thomas.
You can see the influence of Amburgey’s work in the early traditional pieces John D. Tignor built.

From the research I’ve done it’s believed John D. Tignor began building dulcimores close to the Amburgey pattern, or style, in the early 1950’s.

From the beginning up until the late 1960s-early 1970’s Mr. Tignor continued with the traditional pattern. The main differences between his traditional pattern and the Amburgey pattern during this time period are: chunkier peghead, slightly different strum hollow, longer endblocks and a slimmer tailpiece. John also preferred to drill out the peghead rather than carve it out like most other builders and made square wood tuning pegs rather than round. One of the most noticeable differences are his trefoil shaped soundholes rather than the common heart shaped soundholes that other Kentucky dulcimore builders used. Although, you can find the occasional Tignor piece with heart soundholes. Additionally, of his early traditional dulcimores I've viewed photos of, no two were even close to be exactly alike.

It appears that somewhere between 1965-1970 he continued using his modified Amburgey pattern, but he started to move away from the traditional narrow fretboard with staple frets in favor of a wide fretboard with modern style frets going all the way across the fretboard.

Around 1970 it appears he abandons the Amburgey style for the most part in favor of his own pattern with more rounded upper and lower bouts and a tiny little waist, taller flush sides without the fiddle edges, wide fretboard, modern frets, similar end blocks, similar tailpiece, and same style peghead with wood tuning pegs he was using on the traditional version. It’s also obvious he went from 3 strings to 4. It appears he continued building these, along with the one described in the following paragraph until the end.

Around the mid 1970’s we also begin to see a huge, more modern style pattern develop with tall 3” sides and a 10” lower bout. Basically just an over-sized version of the pattern described in the previous paragraph. On all the other models Mr. Tignor built, he placed the bridge at the main tail of the fretboard right up against the tailpiece just like his traditional dulcimores were made. And on most examples of this BIG version he did the same. Except on one example I’ve found Mr Tignor moved the bridge approximately 3” from the tailpiece and ramped the fretboard down from the bridge to the tailpiece. I think this was also in response for the modern type players who played chords and desired a shorter, 25” vsl or thereabouts, making it easier to make the chord shapes.

Lastly:
Unlike McKinley Craft who died a year earlier and continued in the true traditional style until the end, John D. Tignor began as a traditional Dulcimore maker, and changed with the times, responding to demand, and eventually became a modern Dulcimer maker. John D. Tignor died fairly early at the age of 59, right when things were going full blown crazy with modern dulcimer making. The only thing traditional left in his work was the box type peghead with wood tuning pegs. Mr. Tignor’s early work would be considered crude by modern standards, almost primitive really, but as most builders, myself included, you can see he improved as time went on. It’s my belief had Mr. Tignor continued to live and build he would have eventually adapted modern tuning machines also.

Below are photo's of my Tignor Traditional Replica #1
As I mentioned above, I couldn't find any two of Tignor's traditional dulcimores even close to being exactly alike. So my Tignor Replica is a rather mixed rendition of all the examples I found. The only things not true to original pieces I've viewed are the bronze frets, aluminum bridge and nut, and the feet on the bottom. (It's hard to believe Tignor wouldn't have put feet on his traditional dulcimores but I've yet to find evidence he did).

All Black Walnut.
Bronze frets.
Aluminum nut and bridge.

27-3/4" vsl. 
Tuned Ionian DAA.

Video to come:

Tignor Traditional Replica #1 coming soon!

This will be my next build.  A John D. Tignor traditional replica.

One thing I know is, I know I don't make every dulcimore of the same model exactly alike. And I've heard a few of you other builders also state they same. We simply do not make cookie cutter dulcimores!

Well, John D. Tignor definitely did not either! But in his defense, I could only find 4 measurements of his true traditional pieces, and one measurement of his early traditional body dulcimores with the modern frets and wider fretboard. So it's possible he could have made a bunch of them pretty close to the same pattern, because he sorta did with his semi-modern pieces, but I think he was still trying to find his way on his early traditional staple fret models.
I got some actual measurements that Dulcimore Dan Cox and John Halberg provided me, and I got photograph measurements by blowing up photos to match a known measurement such as side height, fretboard width or VSL or all the above.
The numbers were all over the place! Far from being identical in measurement, and also how far the bouts were from the ends, etc.

John Halberg provided me with photos and measurements of John D. Tignor #1. And some of you might wonder why I did not simply just use those for my pattern???
Just as my work, or any other builder for that matter, your first build most likely does not define the entirety of your life's work. My dulcimore building is a far cry from my first one, and so are my designs.
The John D. Tignor #1 is basically a crude copy of a Jethro Amburgey. Eventually you can see differences he made as he began going away from the Thomas Design. Most notably the length and design on his end blocks where his early traditional staple fret models are concerned. And I can also tell that some of his design stuff was to basically simplify something, and some of the design is pure confusion to me wondering why the tarnation did he do that?

So what I've done is I've decided to use his later long endblock design rather than the design of his Amburgey style #1 dulcimore. And the measurements for the lower and upper bout widths, the width of the waist, and the distance of the bouts from the ends are all averages of the pieces I was able to get measurements of. So this is not a direct copy of any one John D. Tignor traditional dulcimore, but it's a close copy to all of them.

Check back to see what the finished dulcimore looks like and thanks for visiting!

Bumblebee #1-6-12-2025

The Bumblebee-- a dulcimore that tells some history.

This dulcimore I’ve named the Bumblebee isn’t a historical dulcimore, but it’s a dulcimore that tells some history. Keep in mind, especially you historians, I’m just hitting the highlights here in this story, and to speak plainly, before the Galax dulcimore police speak up…… this is NOT a Galax dulcimore!

First of all, the name. Why Bumblebee? German author Wilfried Ulrich explains the German name for Bumblebee is Hummel. So in reality I’m calling this dulcimore a Hummel. The Hummel, as well as the Appalachian Dulcimore have drone strings that you don’t note, and they simply buzz or hum along creating a sound much like a bee. Thus the name drone, which is also another bee analogy.

Just like the Appalachian dulcimore, there were many shapes and sizes of the Hummel. And those shapes and sizes were from different areas. In Appalachia, early Virginia dulcimores were usually teardrop, boat paddle or elliptical shaped, (such as the Bumblebee), and the Kentucky dulcimores are usually hourglass, or as some would say, fiddle shaped, and Tennessee had the music box, which was a square box……….. We find different shapes and sizes in Hummels also. The Czech Hummels, Hungarian Citeras, Frisian Hummels, Friesland Hummels, Saxony Hummels, Epinettes from France, Norwegian Langeleik and many others from other areas.

Secondly, the Bumblebee represents transition. Most of the early Hummels made little sound. Just fine in a quiet setting or playing music for yourself. Along the way they found that if they sat the instrument on a table or plank of wood that the sound would be amplified when they played. Some of the early Hummels even lacked a bottom because the table became the bottom of the instrument when they played. Wilfried Ulrich, in his book: The Story of the Hummel explains: There was an early Hummel that was long and slim and Praetorius, in describing it, called it a Scheitholt…. Which translated means “a piece of wood”. But over time the name stuck and some folks to this day still call it a Scheitholt. Early Pennsylvania Dutch began making these hummels. ( that are still falsely called Sheitholts by a lot Americans) and, somewhere along the way someone realized the could simply make a box that attached to the bottom of the Hummel and get more sound and volume from it, and it would be easier to tote around than having to tote a table along with it. Additionally, a lot of early Hummels had as many as 15 or more strings. The folks that transitioned the Hummel to the top of a sound box decided 3 or 4 strings were plenty. And thus became the Appalachian Dulcimore. Although, some early Appalachians still found the need, or desire, to play their Dulcimore on a table, which can be evidenced by the feet on the bottoms of early dulcimores.

Thirdly, the Bumblebee demonstrates the need, or desire, for more volume from the Dulcimore. In the late 1800’s the Melton family of Galax Virginia began making large dulcimores with soundholes in the bottom and with feet keeping the bottom from touching the table. This amplified the sound even more. Eventually, they went further and attached another back about ¼” distance from the normal back making a resonator of sorts, not unlike the resonator on modern banjos. Perhaps this solved a problem for them that their ancestors had when they invented the soundbox. Those that are familiar with playing a dulcimore know that when the back, or bottom of the dulcimore is touching your legs it deadens the sound somewhat. So the invention of a false back, or more accurately the resonator back, prevented a lot of the sound deadening and gave the Galax folks the much needed volume to play along with fiddles and banjos and not get drowned out, and without the need for playing on a table. Apparently even a century later the Galax folks had no desire to carry around a table in order to be “loud enough”!

So I’ve built the Bumblebee having 6 strings with 4 of them being drone strings to kinda give it the early Hummel vibe and there's many different tunings I can do with it. Also you’ll notice the large fretboard will remind you of an early transitional dulcimore if you’re familiar with those. And I’ve given it the elliptical shape and the resonator back of the Galax Dulcimores.

This specs of particular Bumblebee are:

Top and fretboard: repuposed Red Spruce.
Back, resonator back and sides: Yellow Poplar.

Fingerboard, peghead and tailpiece: Sassafras.

26 inch vsl with tweaked Pythagorean/Equal temperament intonation.

6 strings.

Tuned: D-3rd octave bass and ddddd-4th  octave for the rest of the strings.

Steel staple frets.

Handmade steel tailpiece plate that I rust blued.
Brass bridge, nut, string anchors, and screws for steel plate. 
Blued steel zither pins.
4 coats of Boiled Linseed oil/turpentine.
2 coats of beeswax.

And here's a demo video of the Bumblebee with 3 different string arrangements:

What's new?

 So I have some new stuff coming up for y'all to ponder about.

The Performance series:
The Duckslammer Supreme, The Virginian, The Hogg Daddy, The Dewdrop and The Bumblebee will be order only for the most part. Although I will likely make one for stock on occasion.

The Hogfiddle series which consists of the Whistlepig, Piglet, Shoat, Sow and Boar are not for order but being the most popular of my lineup I will usually have one or the other of them in stock or be building one at any given time.

The Tignor and Craft series. As some of you know that follow me, John D. Tignor and McKinley Craft are my distant relatives. although they are distant, it is nevertheless for this reason I've chosen to make replicas of their work. Also, I have missed a few sales because I've not had anything with full width frets over the past few years. The John D Tignor mid 70s Replica and the Terminus Rendition will fill that gap. 
John D. Tignor Replica: a mid 70s semi traditional/semi modern replica. Smooth sides, 28" vsl, full width frets, wood tuning pegs like the original.
John D. Tignor Traditional Replica. This will be an early model replica which will have fiddle sides, wood tuning pegs, feet and staple frets. This will be based on one of his earliest models which were influenced by the Jethro Amburgey design which were in turn influenced by the Uncle Ed Thomas design.
John D. Tignor Modern Rendition: The Terminus.  Terminus: a final goal : a finishing point.

In just the short time that I've researched John D Tignor it's easy to see he was a builder that wanted to sell his wares, and to do so he followed the trends. As the trend for wider fretboards and full width modern frets became more desirable he didn't seem to hesitate to include them in his design. So thus my name for this version: the Terminus. I feel had John Tignor lived he would have eventually reached the same point in his design that I'm doing. I feel it would have been his "Terminus", his final goal, his finishing point. 

For this model, I'm loosely patterning it after one of his later larger designs, I'll shorten the vsl to 25" and add planetary geared tuners to make it a truly modern rendition of the original. Additionally, even though this will be a modern version, I will not add extra frets! It is my belief adding extra frets makes it something other than a dulcimore, or in this case, dulcimer.

The McKinley Craft- I'll be offering the McKinley Craft replica for sale again. You can place an order but I'm going to try and keep one of these in stock. The McKinley Craft will only be made of poplar wood with hardwood tuning pegs.

Ordering the Performance Series or Tignore or Craft Series.... I can and will add you to a custom build list. When it comes your turn you'll be asked to immediately pay a 25% deposit to begin building your item. No deposits are allowed early. Only when I ask. Once your item is finished the remainder + shipping cost will be due immediately. 

Continue watching this blog for more info and photos about each model.

If you have any questions about any of these models please email me at: slatecreekhobbies@gmail.com

Dulcimores for sale!

 I'm firing up the blog once again.
Whenever I have a new Dulcimore for sale I'll post it here.
I've grown weary of Social Media so I'll use my blog as a first for sale place.
After 2 weeks of being advertised here, I'll move the item for sale to Etsy or Ebay.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be attempting to get back to adding more content in the future.