Q & A for Ken Adams

Congratulations on your First Place and Best of Show winnings at this year’s New Mexico State Fair. I understand this is not the first time you have won these two prestigious awards, in fact this is a back-to-back win for you. This year you won with a handcrafted cigar box guitar and last year with a handcrafted dulcimer.

Q: For those of us who are not familiar with a dulcimer, can you tell us exactly what it is?

The Appalachian Mountain dulcimer is a member of the zither family, fretted with 3 or 4 strings, and tuned to a diatonic scale (guitars use a Chromatic scale). It is a string instrument, the first and second course are drones and not fretted, the third and fourth courses are melody strings and are played or “noted” with a small stick “noter.” Commonly found shapes are hourglass, teardrop, and oval.

Q: Both of these instruments have some similarities. Is this a skill you taught yourself? Was it something you had training for? When did you make your first handmade guitar?

I mill all of the wood myself. All the wood for my dulcimers and cigar box guitars start out as logs. I’ve been a carpenter, building houses and apartments, since the early 1970s, designing and building cabinetry and furniture since the early 2000s. Since retirement in 2011, I searched for something to keep me busy. In the past I’ve built dulcimer kits for friends; I thought I could build them with better, solid wood materials, not plywood. I had no formal musical instrument training, I just needed to make tighter better fitting joints. I started making cigar box guitars in 2018, shortly after my dulcimer won 1st Place Best in Show at the New Mexico State Fair.

Q: Do you get judged more on the sound or the craftsmanship? I know famous musical instrument makers become famous for their sound. Is this part of the process (the sound) as important to you as the look of the instrument? Mexico cigar company? It seems like the cigar box would have been an expensive one? Do you smoke the cigars?

The tone woods are indeed from New Mexico — Red Juniper (cedar), and Alligator Juniper. Structural pieces are hardwoods — Alder and Black Walnut, but no cigar boxes from New Mexico. Real wood cigar boxes are hard to find and expensive, and because of that, I make my own.

Q: What are you planning on making for next year’s State Fair competition?

My instruments were judged by craftsmanship at the State Fair; my instruments are folksy and sound as such, old-timey front porch music. The looks were/are important, the sound is equally important and is quite pleasant. It isn’t the same as higher-end guitars; it is in its own class.

Q: I understand that you try to use material that is native to New Mexico. How about the cigar box, New Hmmm? Not really sure; either an Irish Lyre Harp or a Bowed Psaltery. You’ll have to go to the State Fair to find out…. tee hee! Mason Music Studio PIANO • CELLO • VIOLIN • GUITAR • SAXAPHONE 479.214.1764 • TRUMPET (No Text)

Doug Mason

B.A. in Music Education