Joline was 'payment' for a week's wages when money was low. I was working for Folkcraft Instruments as a sub-contractor out at Walt Disney World in 1994. Set in front of the Great Southern Crafts Co., every morning I hauled out the dulcimers from storage in the shop and introduced loads of tourists to this wonderful instrument.
Folkcraft brought some interesting modifications to the table including a fretboard that was raised off of the body. Sound holes were cut just below the fretpiece, which was scalloped to make more room for resonating. The result was a powerful voice that ranked up there with the prettiest dulcimers I'd ever heard. "Joline" is made out of that popular combination of guitar materials, rosewood for the bottom and sides and spruce for the top. Topping it all off are four Planetary Peg tuning gears.
She remained pretty and dazzling for a number of years until Mohave was formed in 1999. Then, under the rigors of rock 'n' roll excess, she began to exhibit the classic signs of a well-used instrument. One too many instances of her case falling over or a strap come loose (one of the hazards of playing a dulcimer standing-up) has resulted in some of her inner bracings freeing themselves, which has resulted in an audible buzz when she's stroked. Nonetheless, she is still a beautiful sounding dulcimer and the one that I play the most, acoustically that is.
No studio yesterday, today instead
David Schweizer and I got our wires crossed yesterday, so I'm actually heading into the studio today at 3 pm to begin recording my final vocal tracks. That gives me more time to work on the revamped Mohave site, which is coming along quite nicely! We fully expect to have some preview tracks, along with the new design, up and running by the end of tomorrow.
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