Forum Activity for @karlkleinpaste

odd tuning problem

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Wow, there is life here, belatedly.

I re-strung the entire thing. Its scale length is 29".  I got a couple sets of strings from a local Guitar Center, specifically dulcimer strings by Martin & Co.; they're 3 @ .012 and 1 @ .022. Having just now looked again at the owner manual that Messick included, he recommends 2 @ .010, 1 @ .012, 1 @ .020w. So I suppose I should get a new set to match that.

I don't think the bridge has moved at all; there is no "give" to it.

Perhaps different, thinner strings will improve matters.  I'll see to it next week.

odd tuning problem

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I've recently re-strung my dulcimer. I keep it tuned DAA for now, but I have an oddity in tuning.

After bass is tuned to a pitch pipe's D, I do the typical relative tuning of the A strings using bass 4th fret. This sounds fine. Also, if I walk a scale up from open to 7th fret, I get a normal D or A scale on the respective strings.

But when I hold 3rd fret on the melody pair and strum, the result is a significant dissonance in the bass. The 3 upper strings sound fine together, but the bass is off.

For the moment, I've gone to tuning the other way, tuning bass to A 3rd fret. So this sounds fine, but of course now it's off elsewhere.

As a mathematician, knowing that I can get a correct scale on all strings individually (so the frets are of course properly placed) but I can't tune one to another and expect to get a matching chord elsewhere on the fretboard is a deep weirdness to me. I mean, this is about sonic frequency, and all things being equal -- frets placed right, relative tune from one to another -- these ought to be Right.

Can anyone offer an explanation for why I get this discordance?

updated by @karlkleinpaste: 06/08/16 09:24:05PM