You always want to have the strings pulling the shaft in to the gears.
I checked again and all of the strings are pulling the shaft into the gears.
The dulcimer has a fretboard not a neck.
I was using the terminology used by the seller, but thank you for the correction.
I recently bought a wonderful Jaromin mountaind dulcimer kit from Annalisa's Crafts on Etsy. Just wanted to tell you all about it and my initial thoughts. Spoiler - This is an awesome dulcimer kit!
From their description on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/980593073/new-easy-build-kit-all-wood-4-string
This kit includes everything you need to build your own 24.75" VSL 4-string lap dulcimer.
Assembles in about an hour with no more than a screwdriver and some glue.
● Choice of neck wood - Oak, Cherry, Ambrosia Maple, or Walnut
- ALL kits include wooden body laser cut from 1/8" baltic birch plywood
● No cutting or drilling required - only a screwdriver and glue!
● Your Dulcimer Kit Includes ●
- Fretted 24.75" VSL hardwood neck with 16 frets, including the 6-1/2 and 13-1/2 frets
- laser-cut plywood box-jointed press-fit body
- 4 tuners & 4 strings for a fuller sound
- zero-fret for low action and greater playability.
- Corian bridge and nut pieces
- All required assembly hardware, printed instructions and a pick
The kit went together super easy to put together (and very tight). You could play this without even gluing it, the joints are that snug. I'm only a beginner so I would hurt your ears with a demo but it sounds wonderful.
They were super quick to answer any questions I had both before and after I purchased it. For example, the neck is 1.5" which was good to know when buying a capo.
I decided to stain the sides and bottom ebony (not sure I like it but it's okay) and then gave the body several coats of lacquer. And I used linseed oil on the fretboard. The only things I added were a pair of strap bottons and I replaced the string screws with pins. I did mount the tuners downward so it would be easier to put into a travel bag (which I'll be post later about).
I know there are other 'easy' kits out there like the one made with a cardboard box body but this dulcimer kit by Jaromin is superior in every way, made with top quality materials and at about the same price.
PS. I paid $69 for the oak fretboard dulcimer kit
I'm really, really happy with it. 
Thanks John. I found that I could write ABC notation after a very short learning curve too. And all the free programs out that can print it out musically much better than I could by hand.
But it will do "voices" so you can have both a melody and harmony lines. Here's a link for a quick explanation on how to do it.
http://www.lesession.co.uk/abc/abc_extensions.htm#voices
No, the only downside I've found is there is no TAB feature (at least I haven't found it). You can do it by typing out the TAB like lyrics (1st verse is D string, 2nd verse is A string, 3rd verse is d string) but that's kind of tedious way to do it.
John Tose said:
On the whole I find it very easy to use and after a bit of practice to write tunes out in. So much so that if I was jotting a tune down in a notebook now I'd do it in ABC, then when I got home I'd type it into the program and it'd play it for me.
Brilliant. One downside is that it only works for a single melody line.
I've just recently joined FOTMD but was wondering if many have any experience using ABC notation?
I know that there are literally thousands (if not more) of traditional songs written in ABC notation and there a quite a few programs (mostly free) that can be used to write, edit, play and print.
For example, Little Liza Jane would be written like this:
T:Little Liza Jane
S:Friends
Z:Nigel Gatherer
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:A
ef | a2 f2 e3 e | fecB A2 ef | a2 f2 e2 c2 | f6
ef | a2 e2 e3 e | fecB A4 | cBAF E2 F2 | A4 A2 :|
z2 | Bccc c3 A | B2 A6 | Bccc cB A2 | F6
E2 | F A3 B3 A | B c3 B3 A | cBAF E2 F2 | A4 A2 :|]
And although they haven't added the ability to do TAB yet, there is a way to add it using lyrics (3 lines of lyrics using finger numbers instead of words or syllables).
Members of FOTMD are such a creative bunch. I wouldn't have thought of the walker idea. :)
And for the sitting position, the adjustable feet can be removed and that might just be low enough to use playing when sitting.
Another idea would be a TV tray. If you could find a wooden one, you could even cut the legs down a bit so it is a perfect height.
Good luck with therapy too.
I know others have listed free TAB sites in these discussions but I thought it wouldn't hurt to add my current list. Some are well known, but others might be new to some people (I removed any duplicates already posted in this discussion):
http://wncdc.org/Tab_Index.php
http://barbfeick.com/vaudeville/Tabs/Dulcimer/DAD/
http://www.hsvmda.com/tab
http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/html/ourmusic.html
http://www.coloradodulcimerfestival.com/jamtunes/
http://athensdulcimerclub.wordpress.com/free-tabs/ (LINKS)
http://www.gilamountaindulcimers.com/tab.htm (LINKS)
http://home.usit.net/~sandyc/dulcimertab.html (LINKS)
http://www.tindlemusic.com/tablature.htm
http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/dogwood/dogwood.html
http://dulcimersessions.com/?cat=10
