It's possible the strings aren't putting enough tension against the head. The angle they make from the bridge to the tailpiece where thy mount has to be steep enough to provide a certain amount of tension. This also applies to any other stringed instrument as well as banjammers. A taller bridge might do the job, if it doesn't make the strings too high to play well.
Paul
CD,
I got my Cripple Creek dulcimer in '07. It has a strum hollow. It's a kit, butI don'tthink that would be different from the others they make, because it is a kit?
CD said:
Emails have been sent to the appropriate parties. The proverbial horses mouth will tell all. With that said the Cripple Creek does not have a strum hollow as you know it in say a McSpadden or most dulcimers. Can you post a picture? The Cripple Creeks I have had all were the same height as the fretboard throughout the strum hollow.
CD
The two never were the same as far as I know. Bud & Donna Ford started Cripple Creek - in Manitou Springs, CO - long before I first visited their shop and fell in love with dulcimers in the early 70s. I believe at one time though, they made "private label" dulcimers that were sold in Branson.
Ask Bud & Donna - they're still in Manitou Springs, CO. Drop them a note at
Whit, glad to hear you enjoy those dulcimers and play them every day. 
As for your equal-tempered friends- I like to tell my Brian this: "I'm really glad you're not perfect, 'cause if you were you'd make me look bad!"
Whit Whitfield said:
P.S.-Most ofmy friends don't notice we are not quite in tune, but one are two lately have mentioned it which led to to my question.
Whit, those two luthiers are experts in placing frets at the proper intervals. Both have built dulcimers using 'Just temerament' for placing the frets, as Ken said- which means they were designed to sound best when not played chord style, and when tuned in ionian mode, which for the key of D would be DAA, not DAd. Try playing retuning them to DAA, and then play them using a noter and fretting the melody string(s) only- then tell us if they sound out of tune that way.
If they sound nice that way, then that's official- they'd be 'just temperament'-fretted dulcimers. you could sell them as 'traditional' just-tempered dulcimers and buy a dulcimer that is better suited for you. There are folks out there who'd like buying a just-tempered traditional dulcimer, and I think it'd be a better solution than sending them to have all their frets pulled and a new fingerboard installed with equal-tempered fret placement. Dulcimers by those two makers are sought after so you'd get a fair price I'm sure- with which you could buy a real nice custom new dulcimer made just the way you'd like it! :)
Both of those builders used Just Temperament, not Equal Temperament, although Keith today will make you an instrument whichever way you want. I do not believe that Keith Young ever made and sold an instrument which was not as perfectly fretted as he could possibly make it.
I would suggest to you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with those dulcimers. It's just that they were never made to play with other instruments or be tuned and compared with a hyper-accurate electronic tuner.
IMHO you should not try to "fix" anything, as there is nothing to fix. To "fix" what you see as a problem would require replacing all of the frets, preferably by replacing the entire fretboard.
IMHO if you do not care for the sound of those dulcimers, you should sell them as Just Temperament instruments, or simply not play them with other instruments and enjoy them as they were intended to be played.
Both good makers from what I know, and not really that old, so sounds like something needs to be done about the action, as Ken said.
The Nickel and Dime test is to check the height of the strings over the frets.
You should be able to just slide a Nickel under the string at the 7th fret, and a Dime should just slide under the string next to the 1st fret.
You will need to check the fretboard has stayed flat before going any further, but it could be easilly fixable.
john p
Are the bridges in the right place(or movable). The distance from nut to 7th fret should be very close to half the VSL.
There is an old guitar makers fret spacing based on 'The Rule of 18' that produces a slightly flattened scale.
I have a calculator somewhere that generates such scales if you want to check (requires a lot of measuring).
It will also do Equal and Just temperament if you want to check those as well.
Otherwise, it's probably what Ken says, or some combination of problems.
john p
"Not spaced properly" - if they are old dulcimers they might be intonated with just temperament spacing not equal temperament fret spacing, which was very common in the Olde Dayes.
How old is "old"?
Are the actions higher than "nickel-dime" That is a common cause of going flat as you walk up the fretboard, and was also common with older dulcimers...
Can you tell us who were the builders of these "old dulcimers". Even some more modern builders used just temperament into the 1980s.
Yes it's OK to post instruments for trade or sale - as long as you do it in the Instruments for Sale forum...
They say a mind is a terrible thing to waste, but for me, a waist is a terrible thing to mind!
Paul
Heck I've always suffered from CRS then. One of my high school teachers told me I had a Swiss cheese for a brain. This particular instructor couldn't ever figure out what I could or would be able to remember. I knew what I could learn, I just couldn't remember what it was. But back then I called it DRD or Don't Remember Diddlysquat.
My mother would never have let me use that "other" word. ;-)
Jim Fawcett said:CRS occurs for me just about everyday, folkfan. It's an on going thing and I just have to deal with it. I know that alot of people have it and don't want to admit to it. It's "Can't Remember Sh--".
So if you have it, it's best to come out of the closet and admit it. You'll feel so much better.
If I figure out how to do it, I'll post it here first. Then I'll start training my finger picks!
Paul
Seems like "Reading Glasses Memory" might help me more. I remember where my muscles are,but if I can just train my reading glasses to come to me whenever I'm awake.....
Paul
Heck I've always suffered from CRS then. One of my high school teachers told me I had a Swiss cheese for a brain. This particular instructor couldn't ever figure out what I could or would be able to remember. I knew what I could learn, I just couldn't remember what it was. But back then I called it DRD or Don't Remember Diddlysquat.
My mother would never have let me use that "other" word. ;-)
Jim Fawcett said:
CRS occurs for me just about everyday, folkfan. It's an on going thing and I just have to deal with it. I know that alot of people have it and don't want to admit to it. It's "Can't Remember Sh--".
Seems like "Reading Glasses Memory" might help me more. I remember where my muscles are,but if I can just train my reading glasses to come to me whenever I'm awake.....
Paul
I have a suspicion that there is some sort of counting goimg on when I play too, some sort of feedback between the number of fret bumps on your finger and the brain.
I've just picked up a 6+ instrument, and for almost the first time in 30 years am having to retrain myself, invariable undershooting by a fret whenever I cross the 6+.
Don't like the three frets so close either, doesn't sound quite right somehow with the extra fret sounding on a slide.
Did play 'Black Eyed Dog' and thought the 6+ added something even though it was never played. So not all bad, but doubt it will last and I'll be back to the diatonic.
john p
Sad.............. but so true!
What is? 
Jim, what was it we were talking about..................?
JohnH
(Completly Right............... Sometimes!)
CRS occurs for me just about everyday, folkfan. It's an on going thing and I just have to deal with it. I know that alot of people have it and don't want to admit to it. It's "Can't Remember Sh--". So if you have it, it's best to come out of the closet and admit it. You'll feel so much better.
CRS is a terrible thing. Affects me all the time. But in the long run I win out over it.
I love it when I struggle for an hour or so with playing some tricky thing, and I just can't for the life of me seem to make it click or get my fingers to do something....and then I go to bed and the next day as if by magic i can play it right off the bat. I like to think I got sprinkled with fairy dust while I was sleeping.
(but then there are also times when I go to bed and then still can't play it the next day... D'OH !!!)
Randy, a pretty good definition of muscle memory as I understand it, is given in WikiPedia which says.....
Muscle memory has been used synonymously with motor learning , which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems. Examples of muscle memory are found in many everyday activities that become automatic and improve with practice, such as riding a bicycle, typing on a keyboard, playing a melody or phrase on a musical instrument, playing video games, [ 1 ] or performing different algorithms for a puzzle cube .
Muscle memory is a popular term amongst string instrument players, especially beginners. But it's a misnomer.
If you are waiting for your muscles to remember where to put themselves on the fingerboard you may be waiting for a while! : ) It's brain memory right? Your brain tells your fingers, and the muscles in your fingers, where to go when to go how long to stay there and when to move to a new place.
I don't want my muscles to act independently. I want my brain to send signals to my fingers at the speed of light. "Reverse course we have a new and different idea!"
Get those synapses and neurotransmitters and
proprioceptors
firing in the right order and play music!http://www.lovinglife.org/brain.htm
McSpadden dulcimers are made by a group of people. No one person makes the instrument from start to finish. The person who happens to attach the top to the back and sides is the one who signs the label. In all likelihood, every one in the shop had a hand in building each instrument that is made. Just and FYI.
Would you share your serial number? I'm contemplating buying a McSpadden signed by Larry but am not sure how old it is. Thanks.
Van France said:
I bought a 1992 M12W made by Larry McSpadden and it is a very fine instrument. If you don't like yours, let me know and I'll buy it! Good luck and enjoy! BTW, if you need anything for it, send or take it to Jim Woods at the Dulcimer Shoppe and he will go over it for you and put it in tip top shape. He worked over my M12 while I waited (and played with some great players!) and that instrument looks and plays like new. Congratulations on your purchase.
