Stephen Humphries D600, my PHD, and the perfect stack

Stephen Humphries is now the proud owner of a brand new Dusty Strings D600 hammer dulcimer with dampers and pickups.

Mark Wade was right - Stephen is an incredible player and this instrument is the perfect choice for his aggressive playing style. Mark told me nearly a year ago that I had to meet Stephen and I'd be surprised how similar his playing was to mine. At the time I didn't realize what a compliment he was paying me.

Stephen and his parents Alva and Debbie made the trip from Columbia, SC. on Memorial Day and were guests at our home until Tuesday afternoon. As part of the purchase I promised Stephen a day of lessons and we started around 7-am and still had more ground to cover when they left around 4-pm.

We were so busy I forgot to take a picture of Stephen with his new instrument but I did snap a couple of shots of him playing my PHD (portable hammer dulcimer). You can see it on my Photographs page.

Another odd picture I posted today is of my gear in what I believe is the perfect stack for getting to and from my truck at the Tennessee Aquarium. The hardest part of street performing every weekend is the loading and setup of gear. I'm now taking three hammer dulcimers - I know what you're thinking but I NEEEEED them all - along with my sound equipment, CDs for sale, water, my laptop, etc.. And after much trial and error I've figured out how to get it all safely on my cart in an order that makes it efficient to load and setup in the least amount of steps. When I realized that I'd achieved some sort of stacking nirvana I decided to take a picture to remind me of how to do it right.
¶ 9:46 AM