A keyboard stand makes a decent alternative also. The height is adjustable. I used a small piece of shelving covered with a piece of shelf-liner on top of the keyboard stand. This works good, but isn't real handy if you are taking it out to play.
I also made my own stand a few years ago. I could post a picture and some measurements if you want to make your own, or have someone that could make it for you.
I don't have a Stockard stand, but I do use a waiter's tray table like the one above, that I got at a restaurant supply store for about $25.
OK. Knowing his is a Tom Yocky and his standard dulcimers have a 27.5" VSL, the strings you need, as KenWL said, at .010 plain for the two melody strings, .014 plain for the middle drone, and a .020 wound for the bass string. These are the gauges commonly found in most dulcimer string sets.
The notches in the frets aren't 'critical' to a good sound, but down the road you may want to get those notches frets replaced -- it looks like they are too deeply notched to just the filed and re-crowned.
Remember, when you tune it to make sure your two D strings are in two different octaves -- the melody d string should be the same as the bass D when the bass string is fretted on the 7th fret (not the 6+ fret).
FWIW -- you've now learned a painful truth -- most music shop folks, even those who have a dulcimer or two for sale, really don't know squat about our favorite instrument!
JP, I feel semi-professionally obliged to suggest that if you are indeed facing a more general feeling of malaise than merely not being inspired musically, you might want to seek expert help. Online friends in music can only do so much.
If it is musical inspiration you seek, then perhaps we can help you.
I find that although my interest in music is pretty constant, my excitement about working on my own musicianship ebbs and flows. Sometimes I just don't have a song or technique that I want to learn or work on. I pick up my instrument and just don't know what to play. One thing I do then--which doesn't even address the problem--is to continue playing scales and arpeggios and other exercises. In fact, I probably do more work merely on technique during the periods when I'm not inspired because I don't know what else to play and because when I am inspired, I want to play something specific. But working on that technique means that when I do find that inspiration, I am better able to play it at a level that pleases me.
I also keep a list of "to learn" songs. When I am busy working on other stuff but discover a tune I'd like to play, I add it to a list. Then during those periods when I'm just not feeling the inspiration, I peruse that list and sometimes a tune pops out and I rediscover what I liked about it. If nothing pops out I sometimes force myself to start working on one of those tunes, and often once I start to "get" the tune, I also "get" what I liked about it and find my enthusiasm again.
I also keep a little file on my phone of musical ideas. If a melody hits me as I'm leaving the grocery store, I'll record myself singing or whistling it. A lot of that stuff never amounts to anything, but sometimes when nothing else excites me I'll listen to some of those files and find a melodic idea that I'd like to turn into a song. It's like a repository of half-ideas that can be flushed out later on. And when one of those half-ideas starts to become something fuller, it can be truly inspiring.
I also seek music externally. One way to do so is to listen once again to some of the music that first inspired you. For me, that means listening to the flatpicking guitarists who first demonstrated to me how elegant and exciting acoustic music could be: Norman Blake and Tony Rice. But I also look for new music that I don't know yet. Recently I've discovered the Canadian singer/banjo player Kaia Kater and the Memphis singer Valerie June. Maybe those musicians don't speak to you. But others will. Find them and let them reignite your inspiration.
Hi @jp
You are not alone in losing motivation or just feeling overwhelmed by it all.
Maybe it's helpful to mention here for the benefit of anyone ... that we do have a group here on FOTMD that's focused around members needing a bit of friendly comfort, prayers, or just a hug. It's a private Group (meaning the posts there do not show up on the main page and are not visible to non group members), but it's open to all FOTMD members to join:
Prayers Hugs and Kindness Group
I could also mention here that I've made it a little easier here on the site to send a Private Message to any other member- just go to that person's profile page and click the "Send Message" envelope button under their member name on the left column. It looks like this: 
Meanwhile, a hug to you JP. 
JP,
Sometimes, just putting a mountain dulcimer on my lap and playing a bit, not focusing on a tune but just listening to the wonderful sound a string (or strings) makes, can bring something good to my spirit.
Take care. I wish you well!
This stand is the one that you can lay your instrument on and play while standing. I hope there is one out there somewhere. Thanks.
JP, I first read "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley while in high school. It inspired me then and still resonates over fifty years later. I share it wih you in the hope that it will resonate with you as well.
INVICTUS
By William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatevet gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms But the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not ho strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Peace be with you, my friend.
Yo! JP Not sure I can be a muse, but I do have a listening ear or two. Can you figure out how to connect on here?
Sorry guys, but the software of this platform is not going allow for separating out 'coming' Events from 'past' Events into two different places. It's either show ALL events (which along with all the events' posts and images etc- would take up unnecessary server space going back 9 years now)... or I can have past events become hidden after they are over with (which is how it's set now). Neither can I move events to a 'group' once they are past- events are entirely different animals from discussions, posts, or groups- they can't be interchanged.
I encourage people who are putting on such festivals to simply list them in our Events section. If they can't be bothered to or are only interested in FB posting, then they miss out on possibly getting a few extra attendees at no cost to them.
I won't keep collecting or organizing everyone's long past events year after year- I've got plenty of work to do in my life already. I don't intend FOTMD to be a reference archive of such things. I suggest that anyone hankering for such a reference who has the time and inclination should just 'have at it' on their own sites! 
Linda,
I agree completely with your "festival stalking." My own schedule -- or more accurately lack of one -- makes this my own way of considering festivals and workshops. To make a comparison, I post an email list as part of a site I run devoted to storytelling in Michigan. Another storyteller puts the list together each month from submissions by either storytellers about their gigs or from venues. Space and format is limited for each event.
I don't know if the limitations of our specific instrument is comparable, but I keep access to past issues available for exactly the resource Linda requested.
Does it list everything? Dunberidiculous! If the event isn't submitted, nobody goes after anyone and asks for a listing. Clarification? Of course, especially for anyone new to the format. Posting websites and ways to contact the venue also are encouraged as part of the listing format.
What might FOTMD do differently? Only Lisa can say, I don't know if it would be a problem, but couldn't it be handled like a group? When an event is finished, would it be a problem to move the posting to a "group " called Past Events ? Just as groups have introductory remarks, it could say it exists to offer an opportunity to see past events that may recur.
Maybe FOTMD isn't the place for a list, but I do agree with the idea. Everything Dulcimer, as I remember, used to let you look at old festivals. I used that old information to begin to plan out my festival year in advance. Even if it is old information, it helps to know the month a certain festival is usually held and maybe a website URL. I've found festivals close by that way to attend in future years. Okay, now I kinda sound like a festival stalker. Lol! 😀
sigh lost all my motivation.... not only to MD and music but to everything...
anyone have any motivation for me i need a muse.
Did that tune have the line, "Woodsmoke is calling me back home"?
I talked with my brother briefly, he told me it was called Mountain Dulcimers. With no "The.." at the beginning of the title. He said the first song was called Wood Smoke.
Might this help?
No worries, @Diane-R. Looking back over my post I can see why you interpreted it the way you did. I really meant that members should post Events listings of their own events. That's why I mentioned the Berkeley Dulcimer Gathering, since I've been involved in organizing and teaching workshops at that event for several years.
It also takes a lot of work to do this well. An Event listing ought to have active links to the event's webpage, links to the instructors' pages, information about how to register, costs, lodging, and more. There is no way a single person could maintain that information for more than a handful of events unless it was a full-time job. That's part of the reason the festivals listing at the old Everything Dulcimer website was so outdated.
I should also add that there is a festivals list toward the back of each issue of Dulcimer Players News.
Where is there a full list of dulcimer festivals? I see some on this site but I would very much like to see festivals for all of 2018 and perhaps past years. I've been searching. Any ideas? Thanks!
Stephen, you would actually be the perfect person to create this comprehensive list that you are wanting! You could put it on one of your websites (which would surely bring lots of good traffic). Of anyone alive today, you probably have traveled to, attended, and taught at more dulcimer festivals than anyone else on the planet. You are a fount of knowledge about such events. It's a project that really calls your name. 
Diane- thanks for understanding! I see how you could have interpreted that as a call to arms. ;) Dusty is on staff at the Berkeley festival and he manages their event listing every year here on FOTMD.
I definitely encourage anyone who is part of staff or admin of a festival to add their listing here in the Events/Festivals section - for one thing, it's FREE advertising! 
Ok, totally understand...I must've read Dusty's post incorrectly. Sorry about that...
Diane, the problem with your plan of posting lots of other people's events into FOTMD's Event section is that the people who have something to do with running the event really should be the ones posting it here. That's because THEY should be the ones to add information, answer member questions, and make editing changes to the event listing. They can't do that if some other random person posted the event.
This has happened a couple of times before- where a well meaning person has posted an event in the Events section... and later one of the people actually in charge of the event has come to me not happy because they want to post it themselves and put in the information and be able to control and edit the listing. I then have to figure out who is the 'official' person actually in charge of that event and I then must delete the one that is not the 'official one'.
It really is best if people in charge of promoting an event are the ones to post it here, so that they can keep the Event listing updated with changes, pictures, and be able to answer questions accurately. They need to be able to edit their own event- and they cannot do that if they did not create the listing. So I'd prefer it if only people who are in some administrative role of the event create the listing for it here. I hope you can understand the reason for that.
I've posted two in the Events section that I've found already and will post some more in a couple days... :)
Thank you Salt Springs...yes, I love my Yocky, just not too much recently. If I knew how to post a video I would so everyone could hear it.
Strumelia, Thanks...Yes, it did sound fine but the strings were rusted so thought I'd grab some new ones and clean it up. With my lack of knowledge I just took what the man gave me. I figured he knew what he was doing running a music shop. He even played my dulcimer for a few minutes! I've ordered some strings online because I don't want to use my local music shop and will try it again. I really hope this resolves the situation :) I'll let you all know...
Yep, a few transcription errors - In the second part, measures 2 and 6 begin with 0-5-7; not 0-5-4. In the Trio, fourth measure, last sixteenth note should be 4-x-5; not 4-5-7.
From your first post, it seems the dulcimer sounded and played fine when you used to play it a while back, and then you changed the strings and it sounds and plays badly now? If that's true and the gauge of strings you say you put on is true, then you just have the wrong strings on, and 'might' also be tuning one or more of the strings to the wrong octave.
You need to get the right sized strings for the tuning you want to use. That way, it won't feel and sound 'sloppy' as you put it.
In playing the attached file below last night, it sounds like I made a few transcription error in some of the measures. I'll take a look at it again over the weekend and post a corrected version next week. Hope to also have a few others done.
Wow, that is a Tom Yocky dulcimer and those are really good instruments! I am sending you a link that you may or may not have seen that could help you set that "Island" up. I would double check to make sure the bridge and the nut have not gotten reversed somewhere along the line...........
https://reverb.com/item/655791-tom-yocky-mountain-dulcimer-2010-heartland
Ken, all I have for the strings are .012 .30mm plain steel ball end & .014 .36mm plain steel ball end. I went to the Stay in Tune site last night and couldn't even find them. As for photos I really didn't know what to take so here it is...
Thanks Dusty! I was looking at the Kentucky model also, I have very long fingers so probably can use a standard size. Thanks for the link to his page...
Was it perhaps this one?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I think that was one in dad's collection but the songs aren't familiar.
Dusty Turtle,
Nawww...that's not it. I almost think its The Simmons Family Stone County Dulcimer but none of the songs ring a bell. The male's voice is so very memorable.
No, I don't think the raffele, if memory serves, has a 6+ fret, but the tuning is different (DAA), so a 6+ is probably not needed - I transcribed it for a DAD tuning. I suppose I should try a few of these out in a DAA tuning just to see how different the fingering (and sound) is, though I suspect I may need a 1+ which my dulcimers do not have. I've noticed on a few other's I'm transcribing that if they're played "up to speed", fingering can get a bit tricky. Maybe that won't be the case in DAA.
Yes, there are a few 'note forms' that have an intended dissonance. I think that dissonance is a bit more obvious with just the dulcimer. I don't think you hear it quite so much when there's an accompanying instrument.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think most Boarischer have a key change around the second part.
I've heard a few examples of the Raffele Schottische - that's a more typical tune for the raffele, i.e. with the strumming across all the strings - a cool tune!
Could this have been it?
My daddy had a dulcimer album as we were growing up.
I don't remember the name of the album or who was playing but I remember it was a yellow'ish colored album and it seems the family was on the front. One of the songs they were singing was about wood smoke being heavy in the air. It seems it was a males voice singing most of it. We played this album at my daddy's funeral visitation. The day we buried daddy in the mountains of E. TN, the fog was hanging over the Little TN River and my brother and I sang this song. This was 27 years ago now.
I have lost track of the album. I have been racking my brain trying to think of the album and who recorded it. Does this ring a bell in anyone's mind? Thanks ahead.
Howdy y'all!
Hooahmedic here! Its Army lingo for a really good medic! ;)
E. TN boy transplanted to Texas and still holding on to my mountain roots!
The notation looks fine to me. I do have a question about the trio section. There are several instances of 4 6+ 4. The 6+ on the middle string corresponds to a G#, which is quite dissonant against the A (4) on the melody and bass strings. Is that intended? Also you mentioned that the Raffele has not 6+ fret.
I like the way it changes key between G and D, and it looks like it is a fun tune to play. There is a contemporary tune called "Raffele Schottische" that also changes key every section and has a similar structure. I did a video of this about a year ago:
Here’s a very simple tune I transcribed to dulcimer TAB (tuning is DAd).
It’s not quite what I mean by playing a tune in the style of a zither – this tune, “Boarisch aus Reutte” comes from a tune book written for the mountain dulcimer’s Alpine cousin, the “raffele”. The raffele also has three strings, but typically tuned a’ a’ d’. The fretboard is almost the same as a dulcimer, but does not have the 6+ fret (but does have a 1+ fret) – going by memory here.
Typically played by strumming across all strings with a soft plectrum. Tunes are usually marches but can also be slower ones as well. Accompaniment is usually with classical guitar or Steirische Harmonika (Styrian accordion – a type of button accordion).
The tune is a Boarischer, a type of traditional Alpine dance tune. Played through two parts, then back to the first part, then the “trio” to end.
I ‘finger-pick’ this, but it may sound better with a pick.
As I mention, this is a very simple tune and was chosen as sort of an exercise to see what transcribing zither/raffele tunes would sound like on dulcimer.
I’d welcome any suggestions in the notation.
Hope to have some Landlers done soon – working through a few now – these are more zither-like rather than the raffele.
Looking forward to the pictures.
Grooves in a couple frets are not really part of the problem you describe. If you have the string package (Stay In Tune) it should tell you the gauges of strings it contained, which might tell us a lot.
When you change strings, DO Not remove all of them and them put all new on. Remove and replace 1 string at a time, to keep that loose Nut and maybe the Bridge from shifting position.
Question. Is the bridge setting on top of the fretboard? Or in a groove in the fretboard?
To get back to the original question, I've played two Ron Gibson dulcimers and they were both very nice. The action is very low, making it easy on your left hand fingertips. The sound is beautiful. His standard 26" scale length is short enough for small hands but long enough for decent volume and sustain. One of the dulcimers I played was a baritone. The other was a standard-sized dulcimer and it must have been Kentucky model. It was for sale at a local music store and I didn't really need another dulcimer at the time, so I played it a bunch and left. I went back the next day to buy it because I liked it so much and it was already gone. 
Ron's dulcimers are among the most affordable of the decent instruments out there, and honestly, other than a couple of student models, I would not recommend the dulcimers that you can find for less than what Ron charges. He's also a member here, so feel free to check out his profile page and contact him. I'm sure he'd be happy to make you a dulcimer without a pickup installed with the wood and soundhole design of your choice.
Boarish aus Reutte - Dulcimer TAB.pdf - 79KB