I use 1/8" . I tried. 3/16 on my first dulcimers but didn't sound as good. I would love to try 1/16 but then you get into bracing, which might restrain sustain. I think thinner wood would be better if only it were stable... Robert.
I did a search but nada.... so, the question is: What effect does the thickness of the top and bottom of the instrument have on the length of sound sustain? Secondly, what thicknesses do most of you prefer for your tops and bottoms? Right now I am working at 1/8" to 1/10" but mostly 1/8".
I would be interested in a 9/8 hammered dulcimer - but starting with a D3 as the lowest string.
I already have a Dusty strings D45 and a TK O'Brian Travel and would like to have the "advantage" of a little travel one but with the wonderful low tones of a 16/15.
Do you know if there exist these kinds of hammered dulcimers or could you recommend a builder who could build it for a "payable" price?
Hazel's three today. We had a party for her. My grand daughter made her a peanut 
Well, I used a burlap mail sack for a while.
Lass From The Low Countree, by John Jacob Niles, in Aeolian--key of C. I just posted a question about it in the Noter & Drone Group...Maybe I should have posted it here. I'm still learning to navigate the site.
Lady Mary, AKA Palace Grand, is another favorite mournful ballad.
Hi Strumelia,
I believe Cynthia Smith in Orange County area of Los Angeles may be a good contact source for Randy Wilkinson. His arrangements of Elizabethan tunes are still wonderful to play! And his playing was really exceptional. I caught some of his performances at the Summer Solstice Dulcimer Fest in LA in early to mid 1980's. Not aware of what he's now up to.
Best, Peter
"The Unquiet Grave" in Aeolian Mode.
Until you get a capo, you can use a short strip of blue painter's tape to hold the loop in place while you change a string. Probably best not to remove ALL the strings at once. Pull one, replace one... and repeat. If the bridge is not in a slot on top the fretboard, and you remove all the strings, getting the bridge back in the correct place to the nearest millimeter can be a major problem.
I'm really glad I saw your post, Ken. I always used to remove all the strings on my guitar when I changed them out because it also gave me the opportunity to give the fretboard a good cleaning more easily. I have to remember this when I get ready to replace my dulcimer strings!
"Nobody Knows the Trouble I see" and/or "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley"
The old ballads, despite being called "Love Songs", are rich with wonderful mournful melodies. Although the old ballads are normally sung unaccompanied, one of my favorites on the mountain dulcimer is "Black Is the Color" in the Aeolian Mode with the dulcimer tuned D-A-C.
Irene, is your second choice for a mournful song possibly "Henry Martin"?
"There were three brothers in Merry Scotland,
In Merry Scotland there were three.
And they did cast lots for to see who should go,
Should go, should go,
And turn robber all on the salt sea.
"The lot it fell upon Henry Martin,
The youngest of all of the three,
That he should turn robber
All on the salt sea, salt sea, salt sea,
For to maintain his two brothers and he."
etc, etc.
I love this song, and play it on the dulcimer (tuned DAC).
For spooky...."Now Anne Bolin was once king Henry's wife, until he had the headsman bob her hair, ah yes, he did her wrong long years ago, and she comes up the night to tell him so, with her head tucked underneath her arm, she walks the bloody tower, with her head tucked underneath her arm at the midnight hour....etc.
There are several in the mournful and sad....1.The Silver Dagger (a man comes to court a girl and her mother's sleeping with a silver dagger.....her daddy was a handsome devil...)...2. The three brothers in Scotland, one had to turn robber to support the other two....3. (I forgot the name,words go)..."I sold my flax, sold my wheel, to buy my love a sword of steel, that he may in the battle wield, Johnny's gone for a shoulder. Shul shul shul a rue...."
I loved singing all of these songs, drove my mother crazy as she was a classical piano teacher. I was a Joan Baez fan. aloha, irene
Don, my guitar-playing husband says for the Keys of A, C, D, and G, especially, it is good to know the I, IV, V chords.
I'll bet those are the same chord progressions that guitar players use when playing accompaniment rather than melody.
Knowing those progressions would certainly save on the reams of paper that most people collect of jam tune tabs and carry around with them. Save having to sight-read or memorize words and tunes as well.
Are there chord progressions I should know for jams?
"Little Margret", "The House Carpenter" - spooky
"Old Black Joe", "The Wreck of the C&O" - mournful
Friends, I just received word that Mike Slone who worked with the Hindman Dulcimer Homecoming in Hindman, KY died. I copied this from the Appalachian Artisan Center Facebook post:
Arrangements for our dear friend and accomplished luthier apprentice, Mike Slone will be at Nelson Frazier Funeral Home. Visitation will be Friday January 4th six to nine p.m. and visitation on Saturday. Funeral will be Sunday January 6th at eleven a.m. with burial in the Slone Family Cemetery.
Mike Slone was a tenacious student of local musical heritage and in particular, of the dulcimers of "Uncle Ed" Thomas and McKinley Craft. In 2012, he began making quality replicas of these significant instruments at the AAC Luthiery and in 2014 was granted a KY Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant to further this work. He became a certified Community Scholar through the Kentucky Arts Council. He was a major contributor and curator of the Museum of the Mountain dulcimer, on permanent display in AAC's Cody building, and he coordinated the Hindman Dulcimer Festival in 2014 and 2015.
Mike Slone was the co-recipient of the 2016 Kentucky Governors Award in the Arts on behalf of the AAC's Hindman Dulcimer Project.
We hold Mike Slone's family in our hearts as we honor the memory of a "true original". A strong voice in the telling of the story of this region.
My sympathy goes out to Mike's family and friends. He was an enthusiastic proponent of the mountain dulcimer.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Pets are family! 
Dusty Tutle: "As you found out, it can be hard to keep the loop ends on until there is enough tension on the string." I use a set of needle nose pliers to close the loop end so it is just a pressure fit over the pin; it doesn't come off while restringing, but the capo is another good idea.
I didn't think of this. I'm going to try it. I usually use Ken H's method, blue tape.
Thank you folks, She mostly sleeps under an old Magnolia tree nowadays. And Strumelia, she is a sweet girl. When our Daughter was little, and had her buddies around, Callie would watch and herd them, if she thought they were in danger. Here is a photo of her and her best pal, Mouse. Mouse doesn't like her photo taken, as she is roughly 16 lbs and has body shaming issue.
Yes Callie is so pretty - her colors, and she looks like a sweetheart personality. 
This is my old girl, Callie. Found her wandering alongside the road 13 years ago. She is by far th best dog I’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing my home with. In this photo she’s 14, and this was taken a year ago. She’s a very old lady now, and I know it’s just a matter of time, but I told her when I found her, she could live with us as long as she wanted.
i have two cats as well, and the older one bonded with Callie as a kitten. The other night I came home, and in my headlights in the driveway, I see the two of them walking together with the cat nudging Callie away from the hedgerow and back into the center of the path she was on. Good pets are good friends.
I'll need to check some brochures for certain, but I think in 1976 Musical Traditions dulcimers were made in West Virginia. i do not recall when Hank Levin sold the Musical Traditions line to the folks in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
@maddie It sounds as though you have a treasure!
I know this is an old post but..I just noticed the Musical Traditions brand on my dulcimer today and did a search and found this so thought I'd write. Wow! Mine does look like these. In 1976 my father and I went to the Fifth String - An acoustic music store on Scott St in San Francisco that had opened not too long before that. My sweet dad bought me my first dulcimer. I still have it today. I will take a photo and post here soon I hope. It does not have a tag inside. I had no idea it originated in Idaho until tonight! My guess is someone at the fifth string put together one of their kits as there would have more profit in it. I think he paid around $65 for it.
Dusty Tutle: "As you found out, it can be hard to keep the loop ends on until there is enough tension on the string." I use a set of needle nose pliers to close the loop end so it is just a pressure fit over the pin; it doesn't come off while restringing, but the capo is another good idea.
Dusty Tutle: "As you found out, it can be hard to keep the loop ends on until there is enough tension on the string." I use a set of needle nose pliers to close the loop end so it is just a pressure fit over the pin; it doesn't come off while restringing, but the capo is another good idea.
Until you get a capo, you can use a short strip of blue painter's tape to hold the loop in place while you change a string. Probably best not to remove ALL the strings at once. Pull one, replace one... and repeat. If the bridge is not in a slot on top the fretboard, and you remove all the strings, getting the bridge back in the correct place to the nearest millimeter can be a major problem.
If by "standard" you mean a guitar capo, yeah, that won't work. Ron Ewing in Ohio makes great dulcimer capos for about $22 or $23. He usually ships really fast, too. If you're pretty handy on the workbench you can make one of your own. It's worth having one around even if you don't use it for this tune.
If by "standard" you mean a guitar capo, yeah, that won't work. Ron Ewing in Ohio makes great dulcimer capos for about $22 or $23. He usually ships really fast, too. If you're pretty handy on the workbench you can make one of your own. It's worth having one around even if you don't use it for this tune.
Congratulations, Jimmy. Now that you're so good at changing strings, I have an old autoharp . . .
Hey, I do have one tip for you which I learned from Butch Ross and can't believe I never though of. As you found out, it can be hard to keep the loop ends on until there is enough tension on the string. But you can use a capo to do that for you, which frees up your hands. So put the loop end on, pull the string taut, and put a capo on to hold it in place. Then go ahead and wind the string around the tuner. It's so simple I'm embarrassed that I was changing strings for years and never thought of it.
And don't worry; the 45 minutes will be reduced to 5 or 10 in no time.
Congratulations, Jimmy. Now that you're so good at changing strings, I have an old autoharp . . .
Hey, I do have one tip for you which I learned from Butch Ross and can't believe I never though of. As you found out, it can be hard to keep the loop ends on until there is enough tension on the string. But you can use a capo to do that for you, which frees up your hands. So put the loop end on, pull the string taut, and put a capo on to hold it in place. Then go ahead and wind the string around the tuner. It's so simple I'm embarrassed that I was changing strings for years and never thought of it.
And don't worry; the 45 minutes will be reduced to 5 or 10 in no time.
I have been playing dulcimer for about a month and a half, and I thought that a string change was in order. The strings looked slightly oxidized, and who knows where this dulcimer was stored, or how long it’s been since the strings were changed.
It takes me about 15-20 minutes to change my guitars’ 6 strings, but I’ve done it so many times.
I was surprised that it took me 45 minutes to change 4 dulcimer strings! At first I thought, “Now why won’t these loop ends stay on the pins?” Then it came to me: I must hold the loop on with a finger, then tighten the tuning head simultaneously with the other hand.
Sounds great with new strings though, and I’m sure that it won’t take as long the next time.
