Converting a 4 String Dulcimer to a 3 String
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
I set up my 4 string dulcimers so that the inner-most of the two melody strings is equidistant with the middle and bass, and the outermost has the same distance to the edge of the fretboard as the bass string. On a 1.5" fretboard this is usually
7/32" | 1/16" | 1/2" | 1/2" | 7/32" with the lines representing strings.
For what it's worth, removing the outer string can put you further from the ends of the fretboard, but removing the inner string can give your thumbtip slightly more space on the melody without touching the middle string. It really doesn't matter much, unless youre like me and not very precise while playing.
. I am pretty curious what strings that old might sound like, hopefully they don't just snap. Unfortunately, during the original assembly by the person who gave it to my friend, the boards were reduced to smaller sizes than the instructions directed, as he just glued the parts together then sawed off the excess. so if will not be possible to assemble according to the directions, however this should only affect the precision of the box and hopefully it will still sound good. This definitely seems to be a dulcimer kit that has only passed through the hands of people who really didn't care one way or the other about woodwork or the instrument, and sadly I might have overlooked it a bit too long as well.
made it even weirder, gave up, and then had it sitting around for years until he found out I play dulcimer so he dug it up to give to me. Between some of the original pieces being lost, and the things done wrong, I still haven't gotten around to putting it together.
