Thanks Ken for clarifying. I should have been more explicit that the difference in a Daaa and Dadd bridge is VERY slight, and will likely equate to only a couple cents difference. It is nowhere near enough difference to sound "off" however, if you are keen on developing your ear to hear subtle differences over time, in my opinion its good to have the most precise intonation possible.
Thank you both for the information.
Unless you have perfect pitch, for all intents and purposes, any ordinary dulcimer like a McSppaden can be played in either DAd or DAA without any issues, simply by changing the tuning. You'll nevere hear the difference. Any ordinary dulcimer can be played in any tuning, provided the strings are appropriate for the tuning you want. A standard string set for DAA/DAd will let you tune up to FCC or FCf before the strings get too tight; or down to BEE or BEb before the strings get sloppy loose.
There are indeed dulcimers built specifically for certain tunings. But McSpadden is talking about tuning the dulcimer a certain way, not building it to be only played in DAA versus DAd... Nate is right to say that the intonation can be tweaked slightly, but most people can't hear the difference...
The dulcimer I currently have is one I purchased back in the mid-1990s before we even had internet at my house. I walked into our local music store that rents school band instruments (bought my oboe for band through them). I asked about buying a dulcimer and they pulled out a catalog of instruments they can order. I think I paid just over $100 for it. No maker marks on it. Basically if I wanted a dulcimer, this is the one I had to buy.
I want another dulcimer, and pretty much have settled on a McSpadden standard 28.5" hourglass. I see one of the options is having it tuned to D-A-AA vs standard D-A-dd. Which tuning should I get, or does it really matter? I play in both D-A-AA, D-A-dd, also in D-G-cc, D-A-cc and D-G-dd. There are other tunings in some books of Celtic music I have that use CGC, CFC.
The dulcimer I currently have is one I purchased back in the mid-1990s before we even had internet at my house. I walked into our local music store that rents school band instruments (bought my oboe for band through them). I asked about buying a dulcimer and they pulled out a catalog of instruments they can order. I think I paid just over $100 for it. No maker marks on it. Basically if I wanted a dulcimer, this is the one I had to buy.
I want another dulcimer, and pretty much have settled on a McSpadden standard 28.5" hourglass. I see one of the options is having it tuned to D-A-AA vs standard D-A-dd. Which tuning should I get, or does it really matter? I play in both D-A-AA, D-A-dd, also in D-G-cc, D-A-cc and D-G-dd. There are other tunings in some books of Celtic music I have that use CGC, CFC.
Tung oil works well when applied really thin on fingerboards. I go to great pains to keep all things silicone away from my work benches. If in doubt rub any suspicious wood surface with acetone. There are many fine paste waxes that are silicone free...Robert
Big thanks to those members who have made donations to keep this site up and running. 
Thanks for the insight Ken. I have avoided lacquer on my finger boards, to try to avoid "sealing" them in rather than letting the wood "breathe." In general i treat the body of my dulcimers with a coating of sealant like polyurethane and just put oil on the fingerboard. In the past I have left a ton of fingerboards untreated, and typically the oil from my hands attracts grime, leaving a dark color to the areas that i fret the most often.
Right now John plans to have the museum open on weekends only from 1 - 6 p.m. At this point I don't know if he will be charging an admission fee or just accepting donations.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Silicone, which is contained in some furniture polishes, makes doing repair work on wood objects difficult. This is the main reason for not using it one dulcimers. It can mess up gluing and trying to match wood patches. I'm not familiar with orange oil other than what I've read online. If it dries hard I don't see why you couldn't use it on a fret board. Generally I do not use polish on my fret boards. They are coated with lacquer and I let the oil in my fingers polish them. On my guitars with rosewood fret boards I use a fret board conditioner. I don't use anything on ebony.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Hey folks I've heard before that furniture polish shouldnt be used on fingerboards. As best as I can tell, this is because they often contain silicone (like pledge for example) which apparently builds up on the wood or something like that. I have a can of orange oil based furniture polish that specifically says it doesnt contain silicone, so Im wondering if this can be used to clean fingerboards. Is silicone the only concern with using furniture polish? According to the online details, it contains orange oil and mineral oil, and specifically does not contain silicone or linseed oil.
Thanks
Nate
This is great news. Thanks for posting it Ken, and for the photos!
Let hope the furry critters don't dig your bulbs up like they do mine.
Expressing my deep gratitude to those who have made donations recently.
I rarely solicit donations here on FOTMD, but I'm making one more request to hopefully get a few more people donating. So far enough has been donated to run the site for about 5 months. I'd really love to not worry about it at all for at least 8 months, so....
If you have never donated to this site before, would you please consider making a donation to help out in keeping things running? The Paypal donation button is on our Main/Home page, and you don't need a paypal account to donate, just a credit card.
Thank you, friends!! 
On what may have been the last warm day yesterday, I got all my lily bulbs planted, along with three types of flowering allium. A whole lot of digging and mixing in compost, planting, and mulching in the 3 areas where I planted bulbs.
I am sore all over today! But I'm lucky to not have a bad back like so many folks do, so it's just muscle soreness that will pass.
It will be SO exciting to see lily and allium shoots poking up through the mulch next Spring! The first year most of them will likely bloom but not be full size plants yet, but they should be awesome in the many years following that. 
Ken I'm really grateful that you did; thank you very much. I was super curious, and I'll likely not have any chance to go there any time soon so I'm very appreciative for this.
Thanks, Ken for the virtual tour. It looks like a fascinating exhibit. Reminds me of the Museum of Appalachia as well as the Ferrum College temporary exhibit that Ralph Lee Smith and Roddy Moore put together years ago.
Here are some more photos. It took a good part of the day to get these 38 photos together and in some sort of order. You actually go through the room twice; one to see what's on the walls and once to see what is in the display cases. I did miss some of the instruments on the shelves below the wall hung instruments and behind the cases. You enter the museum room, turn to the left and the story begins.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Thanks Ken. Going to put this on our list of places to visit in the motorhome. Looking forward to more pics and info on it.
Yesterday, Saturday November 9, 2024, the Appalachian Dulcimer Museum opened in Sperryville, VA. About 45 people attended the opening ceremony, but many more came through the museum during the afternoon.
Here is a link to a few photos I took. I do have a lot more and a video, but I really need to organize and edit before I post any of them.
Appalachian Dulcimer Museum photos
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I've been slowly converting some of my vegetable row spaces in the fenced garden to perennial flowers. Planted some poppies during the past two years, their flowers have been so uplifting to me. We just don't need so many vegetables like we used to, and veggies require more digging and work... which I definitely like less of nowadays. lolol
The cold snaps have reminded me that i've wanted to order some Fall bulbs of a certain type of lily for some time now. You can't buy or plant them in the summer. So I ordered a bunch which are on their way now. I have some compost and mulch ready as well, get them planted. I'm just barely getting this done before it's way too cold.
They are Martagon lilies, also known as Turk's Cap or Turban lilies. Very old fashioned, with hanging flowers with recurved petals, in mixed colors. They like a bit of shade, so I'm planting them in the row space that passes near the apple tree, which gives some dappled shade during part of the day. They will be small plants their first year, but hopefully will grow to adult size the second year and typically multiply on their own. My goal is to be able to gift blooming stems of these beautiful lilies to my friends and neighbors.
Has anyone else planted some new Fall bulbs this year?
Here's a somewhat idealized photo from online:
Thank you so much to those members who have sent in a donation to FOTMD so far. It is so much appreciated! 
Greetings FOTMD friends! 
This is a gentle reminder about the cost of keeping this site up and running for over fifteen years now.
There have been very few donations during this past year. I'm sure it's because folks were busy traveling during the Summer and Fall, or just rising prices of all things creating issues for everyone... But I must continue paying server and hosting fees every month regardless, and the dwindling rate of donations is often not enough to pay the site bills.
Please read the below posts on various ways you can help, and thank you for finding it in your heart to help keep our site running.
Good evening, sorry for the late reply.
What is the asking price please?
TiA
Sorry for the bad link. Thanks for correcting it. I actually think the calculator at the UK address is far more interesting to play with. I just rechecked that link and it's still good.
I am selling a beautiful dulcimer hand made in Connecticut by Folkcraft in 1993, in outstanding pristine condition (please see photos). Scale length is 27 inches. Total length of the instrument is 41 inches. Currently set for DAD tuning with brand new D'Addario 0.12 0.15 0.24 strings. A fourth 0.12 string can be added. The instrument sounds great and it is easy to play with no strings buzz. Folkcraft dulcimers currently retail for over $1,000.00. The instrument comes with a quality brand new T.K. O'Brien case (a value of $65.00) included for free. I am asking for $350.00. Local pick up in Oakland County, Michigan, or shipping to Continental United States with UPS for a flat fee of $35.00. Thanks.
The page is
STRING TENSION GUIDE FOR ACOUSTIC GUITAR
It includes equations and the weights and cross-sections for various GHS strings plus a number of tables.
"GHS has used the 25.5” scale length (typical for Fender) in the enclosed guide. Your individual instrument may vary."
This involves more work than I am willing to undertake. I'll stick with the usual "dulcimer strings."
http://www.ghsrep.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/2/5/22258814/2020-ghs-acoustic-guitar-tension.pdf
Sloppy URL citation. This gives access to a relevant document
http://www.ghsrep.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/2/5/22258814/2020-ghs-acoustic-guitar-tension.pdf
Patty, something must be missing in the link you provided. I get a 404 error when I click on it. It looks like there might be unnecessary spaces and perhaps something left off the end.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
And here's the response from GHS strings to my questions about tension. I don't have time to read this now, but I hope someone finds it interesting!
http://www.ghsrep.weebly.com/
Greetings! I also sent an email to Bing Futch, whose Patreon group I recently joined, and he responded by posting a link to a string tension calculator that he's used before-- https://chordgen.parmakis.co.uk/tensiontool.php .
He also posted a 15 minute video (to Patreon) about how he uses it and did the example of a 29" dulcimer at DAD. I'm attaching a screen shot of those settings. You start by clicking "show editor" and then all he did was set the tuning to DAD, the octave of each note, the type of string (steel with phosphor bronze winding) and then entered the string sizes he thought he wanted and clicked "calculate tensions". It produced some graphs, and in that case it showed the middle string as having a somewhat lower tension than the other two, so he clicked "equalize" and it changed one string value to bring them more into alignment. He also mentioned that tension in the 20-30lb range were safe and a bit on the light side (for slide, that is) and anything in the 50-60 range was risky as far as breaking. You can also set it for more strings, either single or double, so it's very accommodating to all kinds of string instruments and several kinds of strings. He said he's found it to be useful, and at the least it'll give me a place to start! I encourage you to check out the tool and play with it! I haven't yet, but I wanted to get this up on the forum ASAP.
Thanks for posting this video, Strumelia. I've seen it before, but never saw the original show as I was in college at the time. Back in the old days we didn't have access to TV in the dorm.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
This song popped into my head this morning for some reason. Brian Jones really hit it out of the park with this- terrific playing, syncopation, and vibratto, -and great bass accompaniment. I remember going out of my mind over this as a teenager..
Thanks all you guys for the tips & ideas. I put in an email to juststrings and even sent a note to Norris Bennett. Fingers crossed!
Hi Ken, thanks for your response, that chart might be helpful. It occurred to me that there might be a chart of what gauge strings could be tuned to for different VSL lengths, but so far I haven't found any evidence of one. If I find one I'll report it.
I can't find the chart I had either in a computer file or a hard copy. It was something a string maker shared with me. Each manufacturer uses different cores for the various strings they make and none of them (at least that I've been able to find) publish the core sizes, but I'll keep looking. From what I've been able to find as suggestions 0.010 for the first string, 0.012 for the middle, and 0.018 for the bass. You can buy a plain steel bass string.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
For a 29" VSL you'd be pushing it to get the melody string above a 0.012. You can try a 0.014 or 0.013 but be prepared to it break. The same holds true for the middle string. The 0.024 wound string works because the core is thinner and the winding makes up the thickness. You could use wound strings for the melody and middle. Somewhere I have a chart of what the core of various wound strings are. I'll see if I can find it to make a better suggestion.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
That's what got me excited in the first place! I also just don't want to sell this dulcimer because it's really got a lovely sound, but I just can't handle the the wide frets, and my husband built me a 25" that is great for me. I've always love the sound of slide and I'd love to be able to use it in blues.
Bing Futch has a good 9-year old video - Dulcimerica 273 - "Sliding On The Resonator" - Mountain Dulcimer
His instrument is very much a "non-standard" one.
He suggests, among other things, that you may want increased string height and possibly no frets for slide playing.
Ken's suggestions about trying wound strings look good to me.
Thanks Ken, for the references and ideas. I will be playing through my 20A Fender most of the time. I will definitely check out Juststrings, I was wondering if anyone made wound versions of the higher strings, I do love the sound and feel of wound strings. Interesting idea about the plain bass too, never heard of that! The bridge & nut idea is interesting too. I figure a good chunk of my problem is that I just need to develop my wrist more, hence the question about bar vs. finger slides.
