Here's the article I wrote back in 2006 about getting started playing in the Noter & Drone style -- techniques, types of noters, and much more...
The width of a fretboard is not a critical dimension for 99.99% of players, where VSL and body dimensions are of major importance to the sound of an instrument.
Most commercial (McSpadden, Folkcraft, Blue Lion) fretboards these days are 1.5" wide or 1.25" wide. That's pretty standard for most custom builder too, unless you ask.
If you have a custom dulcimer built by someone like Harpmaker Dave Lynch or any of the other custom builders here, you can specify how wide you want the fretboard.
The fretboards on my traditional dulcimers are considerably narrower than 1.25"; but then, I play Noter & Drone style and don't need huge spaces between strings.
Yep -- that listing says Actual Weight = 10 pounds, Shipping Weight = 70 pounds!
Angela-- No dulcimer tuning really has a wide range. That's part of it being a dulcimer, not a guitar -- it is not chromatic. If you want to play a lot of minor chord music, you might be best off having two dulcimers -- one tuned in a minor tuning like DAG or DAC; the other tuned in a major tuning like DAA or DAd. Otherwise re-tuning is your best option. Usually you only have to re-tune the melody string....
Gale -- A few dulcimer builders here are making and sellin possum boards, and I'm sure they'll chime in soon. You can actually make one really easily by buying a "craft wood" plank of poplar from Home Depot or Lowe's that's 3 ft long and 6" or so wide. You also need a piece of dowel (square is best) to glue across the board a litle closer together than Robert has his 'bridges'. A couple rubber bands will hold the dulcimer in place...
Ayup. That's a bit high. A 2mm doesn't sound like much, but it can be. The height can be lowered by sanding the bottom of the nut and bridge. Carefully slack off all the strings. Put a piece of 60 grit sandpaper, grit side up on a table. Sand a few (10-12) strokes off the bottom of the Nut, then re-tighten the strings and test the height again. Repeat until the strings just touch. Then repeat the process with the Bridge end of things.
So here's the second part of the equation... You said the dulcimer has "a 24" fretboard". Is that the distance between the nut and the bridge? Or some other measure? If that's the distance between nut and bridge, then the 12 and 20 gauge strigs are a bit thin for that VSL (Vibrating String Length) -- and that could be adding to the problem as they would be under more tension than slightly heavier strings to get to the same notes. For a24" VSL, a good set of gauges would be 22W for the bass, 15 plain for the middle and 12 for the melody.
If you have very soft fingers you might get string creases that will toughen over time; but it should not be particularly painful unless you are playing for long periods of time. Darcyhorse instruments seem to have a reputation for having high actions. The Nickel & Dime test we use is this:
Put a dime next to the first fret. Each string should just touch the coin.
Then balance a nickel on top of the 7th fret (not the 6+ fret); again the strings should just touch the coins.
Not sure which is the 6+ and which is the 7th fret? See my article called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? under the Dulcimer Resources Topic.
Stephen; I don't know Don, nor have I played any of his instruments (although I do know a fair amount about Galax and TMB instruments in general); so I don't feel qualified to write about them. However I did spend a 30+ year career as a Technical Writer and Editor, so if you need any help in that capacity, drop my an email.
Most of us just use a word processor and create our own tab notation for melody line tab. There are several programs which let you add tab numbers to standard music 'frames' if you are creating chord-melody tabs -- TableEdit is the most popular, and if I remember right there is a free version to experiment with which lets you do everything except print.
You can call it G or Z or Q.. 
But it will be in the key of G no matter what you say say. Gdg tuning with the scale starting on the open 3rd fret.
Notches only need to be a string diameter in depth. The best tool is a small triangular jewelers file. I got a whole kit of such files from the local Ace Hardware for under $10. Height will need to be adjusted no matter what -- It's a matter of cutting slightly over-tall then sanding down to Nickel/Dime action height or lower.
What Rob said - The bridge will need to be made to fit. Not hard to do. You just need a small slice of hard wood like Maple. Let us know how thin the wood is and someone, or several someones, will probably send you useable bits of wood.
Does the piece of bridge in the slot come out readily, or is it glued in? If glued, run your hairdryer on high a couple inches from the broken bit for a few minutes, then use a small slice of wood like a popcicle stick as a 'punch' to try and drive the the broken bit out sideways.
Back in the 60s and early 70s many makers used a single dowel as a string post like that. If the post is small enough you can open up the loop of loop-end strings and they'll slide right on. Or you can use ball-end strings and run the tip of the string through the ball end and make a loop to slip over the post.
Not having a 6+ fret means you'll probably find it easiest to play this dulcimer in Fingerdance or Noter & Drone style, and not try to play everything from the DAd tuning.
Really nice looking dulcimer. You've got a keeper there!
I would suggest buying several sets of strings at a time from www.juststrings.com , where they are as little as $2 and changer per set. For 28" VSL you'll want 20w or 22w bass strings, 12 ga. plain steel middle drone strings and 10 to 12 ga melody strings.
Yeah.... you could probably make a couple of dulcimers out of a 4 ft diameter walnut log....<grin>
There are certainly builders who will work with your wood, but it needs to be cut and cured (dried) properly. Your "tree cutters" can cut the trunk into logs about 3-4 ft long. Hopefull the good parts of the tree are 8"-10" in diameter. But unless the "cutters' work for a sawmill, they won't have any idea of what to do beyond that. A local sawmill, or someone with a large band saw, can then slice the logs into planks of varying widths and ideally about 1/4" or 1/2" thick. These planks are then stacked together with spacers to allow air in between the planks, and allowed to air dry slowly (out of the sun) for 6 months or so before they can be used for building instruments or anything.
If the action is reasonable and it tunes /plays DAd OK, it should be just fine, unless there are structural problems. Post a picture. The only other factor is how you intend to teach her/she intends to play. That short of VSL has pretty small spaces between some of the frets, especially higher up, and might be hard for someone with bigger fingers to fret in Chord-Melody style
String gauges are always dependent on two things -- the VSL, which you've given us, and the desired tuning --- DAd which you've also given us. You then use a string gauge calculator, like the one at http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm
Plugging in the numbers you get:
D Bass String = 24 (wound)
A Middle Drone = 16
d Melody string = 12
And those gauges should be usable for nearly all of the D tunings.
Thanx Dusty -- it's playing at 'friendly' open mics every that were my practice for competition. The competition setting was so much less stressful -- people ere actually listening to you rather than getting drunk and talking loud over the music chatting up someone else at their table!
Babs - they've got all those categories for the "important" Old Time instruments -- guitar and banjo; at least they have categories for Appalachian and Hammered Dulcimer.
Cynthia -- my tunes were Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, and the spiritual Trials, Troubles, Tribulations which I learned a number of years ago from Don Pedi.
The competition was pretty laid-back. Like an Open Mike, but outdoors; with better than average sound equipment and an appreciative crowd, not one that's trying to get drunk and talk loud while you play....
I've seen your picking video's Lisa -- you could take first place here!
Had a great time today at the Florida Old Time Music Championship up in Dade City. Nice setting at a Pioneer History farm. Beautiful weather. I came in third in the Dulcimer category. Not bad, considering it was my first time competing.
Now I see how things work, and hope to do better next year. I went there with my two Old Time tunes carefully chose, traditional dulcimer, played traditional noter & drone style with a quill plectrum. The first two places went to people who played modern dulcimers, barely old time tunes, in chord-melody style, and just happened to be on a first name basis with all the judges and MC, from previous years of competing.
So next year I'm gonna play and sing Five Pounds of Possum, or Shove That Pig's Foot... and some other tune that I love, and not worry about being "old time".
Looks pretty good... a bit heavy perhaps, but as long as it works, who cares. I've made capos from a 1/4-20 bolt and wingnut with two wooden disks to grab the sides of the fretboard, and a length of vinyl tubing to protect the strings from th bolt threads.
Like you, James, I prefer an Ionian Modal tuning or a Bagpipe tuning. With those I can cover most of the 200+ songs in my repertoire. However I do have a complete set of Dorian tunes that I play as well as a set of Aeolian tunes. Those of course need to be retuned from one of the following:
I keep one traditional dulcimer (Bobby Ratliff Hog Fiddle) tuned BFF Ionian as it suits my voice even better than C for singing along at Open Mics and such.
I keep another traditional dulcimer (John Knopf Thomas replica) tuned Ggg for instrumentals in Open Mic settings, because the G tuning cuts through crowd noise well.
I have a Harpmaker Student Model in DAA for playing with clubs
I have a Til Holloway (my only dulcimer with a 6+ fret) tuned Ddd for playing with clubs.
I'm slowly building a 'coffin shaped' (think angular teardrop) traditional dulcimer that will have just intonation.
By 'traditional dulcimer' I mean one that is less than 7.5" wide and less than 1-1/4" high, with a fretboard a minimum of 3/4" high, preferably 1" high.
I believe that the key shift occurred during the Revivial of the 1960s and early 70s, and the reason for the change was that lots of people wanted to play scots/irish fiddle tunes, for which D is a more common key. You'd have to go back to early editions of DPN to find any possible hard information. Or you could question some of the folks who were there -- like Howard Rugg, Robert Force, Bonnie Carol, Lois Hornbostle, etc.
IMHO most of today's D diehards are that way simply because that's the way they were taught and they were (unfortunately) taught that DAd is the only 'right' way to do things
. They have little or no desire to dig into the background of the instrument, and no desire to learn to re-tune to become more involved with the instrument, because it takes them out of their 'comfort zone'.
Most of the books today are in D for those same reasons. For those of us who use different keys and understand that the key makes no difference, it's all good. Personally I've been playing in B a lot lately as it's easier on my voice than D or falsettoG. For instrumentals in a high noise environment I personally love Gdd or Ggg as that note seems to cut through a lot of background buzz.
DAA is the proper notation, also DAC (you tune down to the C not up to c from A), and Ddd or ddd, but not DDD which would be all bass strings.
Because the key note doesn't particularly matter, many people today simply refer to 1-5-5 or 1-5-7 or 1-5-8 or 1-8-8 tunings to indicate they they are note-independent.
Pam -- a possum board is simply a rectangle of 3/8" or thicker plywood or board that is a bit wider and longer than the body of your dulcimer (tuning head doesn't count). To that board you glue two short lengths of square dowel about 1/4" to 3/8" square and as long as the board is wide. Glue the dowels so they will be a few inches in from the ends of the dulcimer as it sits on them. Don't pad the sticks -- it will negate the effect of freeing up the back. If you find you need to hold the dulcimer in place, drill holes near the ends on either side of the instrument and use small bungees or rubber bands.
William -- Be Thou My Vision is the "churchified" version of the old Irish tune called Banks of the Bann. Be Thou is much slower and the emphasis is completely different, although the notes are the same.
Scottish folk tunes are what I particularly love, Dusty. Here's a few common, simple ones that aren't on the list
Loch Lomond
Banks of the Bann
Maire's Wedding
Auld Lang Syne
Tramps and Hawkers
Actually the list here is pretty good. Also the list at EverythingDulcimer: http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/event_display.php
Not a lot going on in the Fall - Sept-Nov but you're always welcome to snowbird down here to Florida where there's almost always something happening!
Not "dulcimer", but the best collection of traditional Anglo-American folk music I know is www.contemplator.com -- words and music.
Back in the early-mid 70s I was wandering around Manitou Springs, CO, and heard this eerie string music. I'd tried guitar and hated it - couldn't see what my fingers were doing. I played a couple kinds of drum and pennywhistle.
But something in this string sound struck a chord (all puns intended). I followed my ears to a little shopcalled Cripple Creek Dulcimers, run by a 'long haired hippy chick' and her fella. Smelled like patchouli in there, and there were things besides dulcimers for sale... I fell in love with the music - a cassette tape by a guy named Kevin Roth and another by a duo called Force & d'Osche. Lon story, short, I eventually bought a kit and built a dulcimer because it was cheaper and I was a poor student on the GI Bill. Found a stick and taught myself to play from the only book available -- The Dulcimer Book-- by some lady named Jean Ritchie.
The rest, as they say, is history...
The hippy couple? Bud & Donna Ford. Became famous dulcimer builder and late prominent citizens in Manitou Springs city government and producers of an annual music festival over Labor Day weekend.
Like Dusty I buy both locally and from JustStrings. Never had a problem with them in all the years I've ordered from them. Often they send little extras, like string cleaning cloths or flat picks. I usually get a dozen of each of my most common gauges (18, 14, 12).
Banjo, rather than Mandolin, strings are the most common "crossover instrument" strings. I believe Jean Ritchie talked about using banjo 2nd and 3rd on dulcimer.
Noter & Drone does not "have a minimal amount of learning". <snip/moderator edit> It is a different set of lessons.
I'm the hardcore trad noter & drone player. So I have three dulcimers, in three Keys, each of which will handle my 5 most used tunings.
The keys are B, C, and D. I find the B works really well with my voice, C works pretty good with my voice, and D is for playing with all those other dulcimer players
The tunings are Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian and Bagpipe. 1-5-5, 1-5-8, 1-5-4, 1-5-7 and 1-8-8
I think you're right Noah.
I think it IS propaganda.
And, for some reason, a huge number of players are terrified of breaking a string and having to change it. I'm like you. The strings on my Bobby Ratliff Virginia Hogfiddle have been down to Bbb and up to Gdd numerous times without getting floppy or breaking. But mine are traditional dulcimers and I don't use wound bass strings.
Nope, there's no 'perfect' VSL but I do think that that length is as close as you'll get
Banjimer, banjomer, banjamer, bandjammer.... I don't think any of us who build them ever made plans.
Basic idea is a dulcimer body that is wide enough to take a small 'bongo' drum head or small tambourine in a location such that the location of the dulcimer's bridge will be at or near the center of the drum head. Rather than a standard dulcimer bridge, a taller banjo type bridge is used that sits directly on the drum head.
The top is cut away in a circle to allow the drum to set down into the body such that the head is just above the surface of the dulcimer. Once the body is glue up, the head is installed. The head can be fixed in place, or simply 'float' on a couple of braces.
The type of wood is pretty far down the list of things which affect the tone of a dulcimer. Not that those two dulcimers would not have two different sounds... just that the difference in top wood will be for all practical purposes, not distinguishable. Especially in this case since they both have the same wood for the back and sides.
IMHO buy the one that appeals to your eye.
Well, it looks like a very amateurish build. First off there are only 10 frets, and something doesn't look quite right about the spacing. Something doesn't look quite right about the Nut end of the fretboard either. The builder (or perhaps adder of the fretboard didn't seem to know what s/he was doing.
As far as multiple 'low spots', I think it might be an attempt to lighten up the overall weight. There' is 'way too much length aft of the nut, and that can cause some wolf overtones and other extraneous sounds. There are also cracks in the back
Thinking about it, it appears that that fretboard was added to a dulcimer which was perhaps salvaged, and this is an attempt by someone who knows nothing of dulcimers to 'flip' the instrument with a cheap fix.
Frankly I wouldn't touch it, if you gave it to me. Too much work to make it playable, and too expensive for a wall hanging DSO.
Get Noterized.pdf - 82KB