Forum Activity for @robin-clark

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Bridge - Try DAAA with the melody A string, when played at the 3rd fret, matching the bass D string but an octave higher.  The A melody string will end up sharp of A at the zero fret.  Now you can place your screwdriver 'nut' under just the melody string and adjust it until the open A matches the middle drones while keeping the 3rd fret 'd' an octave above the bass string.  The instrument was built to be played melody against drones with only the melody string fretted to play a tune (either with a noter of a finger).  Your issue is simply that the zero fret is in the wrong place.

Your DAAd tuning will exacerbate the issue of the 1st fret position.  These fret patterns are supposed to have the 1st fret sounding the 6th of the scale (naturally 182 cents above the 5th).  Your DAAd tuning makes the 1st fret the second of the scale (naturally 204 cents from the root note) - hence you probably have the screwdriver placed too far left.  DAAd will sound OKish but you are actually not getting the best from the dulcimer as other frets further up will be thrown out.

Jim - That's a great piece of work!  Very interesting how many makers ended up with JI, either because they set their frets by ear or because they copied the fret pattern from another maker who did.

updated by @robin-clark: 05/04/18 05:03:30AM

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Well, I ran the numbers for Bridge's tulip dulcimer and man was I blown away!  I added Bridge's data to my own example of a Maxwell and took special care to scale the charts the same to facilitate comparisons.  I'll let the spreadsheet speak for itself except to say this has become an investigation into a comparison of equal temperament versus just intonation, and forever I will avoid blatantly calling their discrepancies "fret errors".

updated by @jim-hedman: 05/04/18 02:55:14AM

Pick paranoia!

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

what ever one is within reach.

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Ok.... I don't know nothing about nothing except for this. I made a dulcimer and set the frets by gosh and by golly. Strived for pure 5ths and octaves and 6ths, etc. like whatever I knew sounded good. I tune it DAA, DAd, mostly DGC. Every time I change tunings or change pitch much I have to move the bridge back or forth so things are right. Usually have to compromise on the 1st fret and here and there. I get over it! I jiggle it until I get it to where I can live with it. I can set an equal temperament by ear on a piano but I'm not as particular with the dulcimer as I used to be... and that's a good thing to be free of.

You have always explained things so well Robin.

updated by @randy-adams: 05/03/18 09:18:28PM

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@strumelia @ken-longfield @jim-hedman  
@robin-clark

I'll have to figure out whether I need to do all of the @s or if you will all just check back from time to time! ;-)

Well, I tuned it to DAAd with the strings that are on it with no great sing of improvement. All of the fretted notes were still very flat compared to the open strings. For the heck of it, I tried increasing the distance between the zero fret and the first fret by putting a very small screwdriver under the strings beyond the zero fret. The screwdriver lifts the strings over the zero fret. With the screwdriver about 9mm "north" of the zero fret and lengthening the VSL by moving the bridge away from the zero fret to get an octave where it should be, voila! All the notes sound quite close. I will plug the numbers into the fret spacing tool and see what it says, but the fret-to-fret spacing seems fine - except for the zero fret. I still don't think the builder made a gross mistake, but there is more to learn and understand about this...

After I took the screwdriver out, it occurred to me that the action was actually extremely low using just the zero fret. It's reasonable toward the right end. I'm wondering if there was some sort of long lost bridge above the zero fret that would raise the action and clear the zero fret. The other interesting thing is that there are two sets of registration marks for positioning the bridge, almost as if the instrument code be quickly changed to operate in either of two modes.

The picture below is where the bridge is with the screwdriver; note registration marks. When using the zero fret, the bridge must be set at the forward set of registration marks.

updated by @bridge: 05/03/18 08:34:55PM

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Following my tuning suggestion you are likely to end up with DAA drones and A slightly sharp as the melody string if you aim to have that 3rd fret 'd' on the melody matching the bass drone (but an octave higher).  And, yes, 3 drones and one melody was fairly common.  Jean Ritchie had her dulcimer set up like this from around 1960 onward, so many folks would have been influenced by her.  Your string gauges should be fine for the tuning.

Thanks for the measurements.  I have measured my Ledford and Warren May (setting the ruler so that the 7th fret was at 335) and what you have is a very close copy of those fret patterns - Except - your zero fret position lines up with the front edge of the nut slot on those instruments.  The string release point on those nuts is a good 2 mm closer to the pegs, and the nuts are high.  There's the cause of your flat scale.  Your first fret is also slightly too close to the nut compared to the Ledford or May.  The rest of your frets are spot on or within .5mm of those makers (just intonation).  So I suggest that this was a copied fret pattern but the use of a zero fret rather than a high nut has introduced an error.

You will have a job trying to match the scale to an electronic tuner because the 3rd, 6th and 7th of the scale fall naturally flat of equal temperament.  But if you tune the melody string so that the 3rd fret sounds 'd' (the open string will be slightly sharp of A) the instrument should play OK except for the open note (and possibly the 1st fret may be a little flat).  However, you can find that open note in tune on the middle drones. 

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@bridge

I'm strapped for time at the moment but the 7th fret on the StewMac calculator is we'd call the 6+ fret, thus the calculator's 8th fret is we'd call the 7th fret.  In my spreadsheet the "Reformat" tab shows raw data just imported from the calculator.  In that scratch-pad sheet I'd delete line 12 (containing the irrelevant 6+ fret data), moving line 13 to line 12, then I'd replace the "8*" fret identification with "7".  How many frets input into the calculator is irrelevant - for this exercise you only need data for the first 8 (to account for that "extra" 6+ fret). I'd also delete all lines containing data beyond the first octave and those two blank columns.  Finally, I'd copy the two columns containing the fret and "from nut" data and paste them into my main page.  Either before or after this copy and paste operation pad any output under 100mm with a leading zero (e.g. in your case that 59.5mm should be changed to 059.5mm) such that all measurement data has three characters before the decimal.  On the main page the StewMac text data is extracted into the "Extracted & Measured Data" section with the MIDs function - the zero padding was required to allow one formula to cover all data.  If you are not familiar with Excel, I've probably lost you already, so I'll stop here except to say that I'll be happy to grind this data for you and post the results in another reply.

@strumelia

Thanks for the references and information.  Trust me I appreciate what I have.  Everything I've done can be undone - and it seems clear that's the way I'll be going.

@robin-clark

Wow!  I've read may references to just tuning but nothing to date has come close to explaining it in the way you did.  I really appreciate your effort!

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I didn't check this, but I seem to recall on the Stew-Mac calculator it automatically calculates the position for the 6 1/2 fret but designates it the 7th fret making the 8th fret the 7th fret. So, using their terminology, the 8th (7th) fret would be the octave.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@jim-hedman @robin-clark Okay, Jim and Robin, I have some data we can work with. I tried plugging this into the StewMac calculator, and it keeps telling me the 8th fret is the octave. Maybe they are counting the zero fret. Anyway, from the zero fret to the 7th is 335mm. If you double that to place the bridge, the end of the wooden bridge assembly lines up exactly with a couple of pinholes that were clearly put there by the builder. (There is a second set of pinholes about 1/4" frther from the zero fret, but that's something for later.)

Here are my measurements, all with reference to the zero fret in millimeters:

z-1   59.5 mm

2   129.5

3   164

4   222

5   267.5

6   292

7   335

8   370.5

9   404.5

10  421

11  448.5

12  472

13  486

14  506

In the StewMac calculator, I inputted a 670mm VSL, 14 frets, and selected Dulcimer. Should I be doing something different?

A couple of notes concerning Robin's post...

- I don't think anyone has changed the action on this instrument.

- On a 4-equidistant dulcimer, would the first string be considered the melody string and the other three drones?

- "Tune to D,A,A for your drones then tune the melody string so it sounds a 'd' note at the 3rd fret an octave above the bass string.  Play the scale on the melody string against the drones.  If it sounds OK (see below) except for the open melody string sounding sharp then your problem is simply the zero fret position.  My guess (and it is just that) would be that the maker took a fret template from an older dulcimer with a bridge but fitted a zero fret.  A bridge in the same position as that zero fret(particularly a high one on an old dulcimer) would have made those first half a dozen frets pull sharper."

Can you suggest typical string gauges? Just best guess and estimate.

I apologize for seeming dense, here, but would what I would tune to be DAAd? I have a fairly light gauge set of John Pearse strings on this dulcimer. Perhaps I should have something like 12-14-14-22 on this one.

 

updated by @bridge: 05/03/18 05:49:36PM

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Well, this 'problem' fretting on older dulcimers can have many causes - and it often takes a little investigation to get yourself into the mind-set of the maker.

Firstly - let's assume that there are no construction errors and talk briefly about setting frets.  It is impossible to set frets by ear to equal temperament without an external reference (such as an electronic tuner or precision tuning forks).  It is easy to set frets by ear to just intonation using an open string as a reference note.  So, this second method is how many early dulcimer makers would place their frets.  One string would be tuned to 'a good note' and a second string would be tuned a 5th above or to the same note.  A piece of wire would be slid along the fretboard under the melody string to each point of least dissonance sounding between the open string and melody string (starting with the low hanging fruit like the octave 5ths, 4ths and 3rds) and the position marked.  If the maker had tuned root and 5th for his two strings the 6th of the scale (the 1st and 8th frets) will be flatter than if the maker used unison strings.  You can spot this visually on old dulcimers.  For example the John Maxwell in Jim Hedman's post below was probably set or derived from a root and 5th by-ear fret set.  Whereas a Pressnell or Melton was fretted from unison.

Secondly - Fret patterns set by ear are string gauge, tuned pitch and action dependant.  You cannot effectively copy them from one dulcimer to the next without keeping all these criteria the same.  Yet many maker did just this.  They would take a template from one dulcimer and use it for the next.  Nut position and height are particularly crucial with little margin for error.  String gauge and tuned pitch can also have a large effect; normally because the original instrument was running a high action and high string tension (as was the norm on early dulcimers).  I have come across many old dulcimers that were well out of tune because the action had been lowered and thin strings fitted.

Thirdly - The frets on old dulcimers are set just for the melody string(s).  You cannot fret a string tuned to another pitch alongside the melody string.  So playing chords in DAd will give you 'off' notes.  It is this issue that equal temperament solves!

Fourthly - On the Tulip dulcimer below it looks like the 3rd and 6th of the scale are flattened (1st, 5th, 8th frets), which suggests a 1-5-5-5 tuning rather than unison.  You say the notes are flat up to the octave 7th fret with the bridge set correctly?  Then that suggests that the zero fret is a little off.  Set the bridge so the 7th fret plays the octave.  Tune to D,A,A for your drones then tune the melody string so it sounds a 'd' note at the 3rd fret an octave above the bass string.  Play the scale on the melody string against the drones.  If it sounds OK (see below) except for the open melody string sounding sharp then your problem is simply the zero fret position.  My guess (and it is just that) would be that the maker took a fret template from an older dulcimer with a bridge but fitted a zero fret.  A bridge in the same position as that zero fret(particularly a high one on an old dulcimer) would have made those first half a dozen frets pull sharper.

Fifthly - The difference between equal temperament and just intonation:  In equal temperament the gap between each semitone is adjusted to be 100 cents (an octave being split into 1200 equal parts).  However, perfect intervals are formed from the physics of string movement.  For example: if you half a strings length you get an octave; two thirds of the length will sound a 5th, a three quarters of the length will sound a 4th; four fifths of the length will sound a 3rd etc.  These perfect intervals are how we naturally sing and how we naturally blend notes to make harmonies.  They differ slightly from the maths of equal temperament but are much easier to find by ear.  However it does mean that notes 'move'.  So the note B in the key of G is actually different to the note B if you sang it in the key of E.  The piano and guitar (plus other instruments that modulate) cannot cope with this!!!  So equal temperament evens up those difference by placing every note just a little out of tune.  It is mathematically perfect but does not equate to natural sound vibrations.  So it is not possible to set frets by ear to equal temperament because you can't hear when the notes are 'right' because they are actually 'wrong'!!!.  Following the natural harmonies is much simpler, which is why old dulcimers tend to be fretted in just intonation. 

 

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Richard, sometimes my left hand would shake so bad, it was downright embarrassing.

Time seems to heal 'Bout everything.

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

As Bridge just hinted at with his 'gut feeling' comment, the problem here could be that you are expecting equal temperament sounds on an older dulcimer that may have been fretted in just temperament.  This would result in an instrument that not only sounds badly intonated when in DAd tuning, but even in DAA tuning when chording it across all strings.

Our member Robin Clark has written extensively over on the ED forums about equal vs. just tempered scales on older dulcimers.  I don't know how much you guys already know or don't know about this subject, but here are a few of Robin's posts on it over on ED (which will sadly shut down at the end of this month):

http://everythingdulcimer.com/discuss/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=6698

There are also a lot of great discussions here on FOTMD concerning the equal vs. just temperament factor with older dulcimers:

https://fotmd.com/search/results/all/1/25?search_string=just+temperament

One thing I would say is that many folks wind up thinking their old dulcimer was improperly fretted and they proceed to pull out all the original frets and refret it in equal temperament. This is a disservice to irreplaceable older dulcimers and will immediately and severely devalue them forever (that's assuming they were not actually badly fretted by an inexperienced maker).  If one needs an equal tempered scale due to how one wants to play (intended repertoire, playing style, tunings), one would do far better to simply use a more modern equal-intonated dulcimer.  The old just-intonated dulcimer fret spacings sound sweeeeet when you play noter style in ionian tuning, as they were designed to be played.  

Again, I do NOT know if a just temperament is the cause for the frets being 'out of tune' in this instance, and I don't know anyone's expertise or knowledge level here.  But any time an old dulcimer is involved and thought to be badly fretted, the intended fret scale should be high up on the list of factors.  

I'm hoping Robin Clark will jump in here, since he has done a lot of research and experimentation on the subject.

Group sync

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

Except for playing along with my son and grandson in our home, I've never had the opportunity to play in a group that included guitars and banjos.

But twice I drove around 100 miles to play with a club, that included a harmonica player and two ukuleles, and perhaps eight dulcimer players.

This worked really well. My take on things, was there was no instrument that drowned out the dulcimers.

There was one guy, who was really good, sat where all could see him. He was playing a self built banjo dulcimer, that he mufflered. With this, most all kept the same timing and beat.

Group sync

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

Thanks for the suggestions, We had a practice Tuesday with 14 players and the four guitars were side by side, with the 10 dulcimer players in a tight circle inside. Even with the new songs we tried, it worked very well

Bill R

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@jim-hedman     Jim, I am once again grateful for your help on this. I have been swamped with tasks these last two days, but I should be able to look into this in the afternoon. My gut feeling is that they guys who made these instruments knew exactly what they were doing and why. Some of us latter day dulcimists are demanding different things from the instrument and just don't quite grasp what they were doing. The action on my tulip is just about where it should be and slightly lower than some dulcimers I have seen. It's about the same as my McSpadden M12w. I'll contact you in a few hours.

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@bridge

Bridge, your reply inspired me to fast track an examination of a near-mint Maxwell I recently acquired (see attached photo).  After replacing the notoriously high Maxwell nut and bridge with a trial walnut nut and bridge providing more reasonable action I tested the intonation at one and two octaves and in both cases the pitch was within a cent or two of the open string pitch (it runs somewhat sharp with the original stratospheric Plexiglas ones).  Overall intonation did not noticeably improve however - the lower frets were quite flat, although there was some improvement as one approached the seventh fret.  Does this have a familiar ring? {pun intended}

Well, it seemed a good exercise to dope out nut and fret placement errors.  The attached Excel file (zipped) shows the results of those efforts.  Hopefully, you are enough of a geek to ferret out that for this particular dulcimer the required nut and bridge adjustment for "correction" is impractical and the residual random fret placement errors (now sharp and flat) would still be troublesome even if attempted.

I'll be dealing with this dulcimer and its five-string brother in a future dedicated thread, so I won't be going into any specifics here.  I'll see if I can find the data derived from my Carstanjen courting dulcimer as an example of where this nerdy exercise pays off.  Hopefully, the results of your exercise will be in the promising vein should you attempt to pursue it (that "zero fret" might be a deal-break though).

updated by @jim-hedman: 05/03/18 06:28:03AM

NDD - McSpadden 26 vsl (thumbs up)

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I've moved this thread to our "Instruments- specific features, luthiers, etc" forum since it will be helpful to others seeking shorter scale/vsl McSpaddens in the future.  I also removed a few posts that were veering into different directions in a non-constructive way.  Thanks, and carry on!  

updated by @strumelia: 05/02/18 05:11:57PM

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I get the same way. I'm sure it is mostly nervousness. I get the same way when I try to record something. I could know it like the back of my hand, but as soon as I hit the record button something is bound to fall apart.

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

i have played Renaissance Faires since 94 (hammer dulcimer.... since retired). i found when ever i though about what i was playing i would screw up so i just try to blank my mind and let muscle memory take over.... not always easy to blank your mind.

pretty soon your mind sez... hey your doing good on this one... and then comes the clunker.

audio input will do that to you too.

 

however i never really like playing with big groups of people though at times i was forced to. i think when you have 10-20 people playing the same tune all playing lead it may sound peculiar ...

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Very common.  You might be right that it is all the distractions that affect your concentration. But I think, as Ken suggests, that it might just be a nervousness that comes from playing with or in front of others.  Sometimes when I perform I think I'm fine but find that my fingers get a bit jittery and its clear that I'm really nervous.

If its the auditory distractions that cause you trouble, you might consider playing commercial radio when you practice so you get used to ignoring the talking heads and commercial jingles and focus just on your playing.

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Yep -- sorta "performance anxiety"

Is This Common

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I have difficulty playing in a group, our club, jams etc. It seems there is too much auditory input and I lose my concentration or place in the music. Songs I can play passably well at home in practice fall to pieces in a group. Is this common?

4 equidistant strings/McCarty tulip dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@jim-hedman   Jim, thank you very much for this detailed response. Some very useful info here. I will spend some time with the dulcimer and get back to you when I have gathered the appropriate information.

Cigar Box Guitars

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

here is a better one.... the headstock would be pointing down...

Cigar Box Guitars

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

like this...

NDD - McSpadden 26 vsl (thumbs up)

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Although there is no excuse for poor workmanship, dulcimers are unique among string instruments in that they have two popular fretting setups. Old time traditional dulcimers are fretted in Just intonation. This setup is ideal for 155 tuning like Daa but won't play in tune in ddaD. Equal tempered setups are like guitars etc. And will play in 158 like ddaD and don't sound as well in 155. Before you toss your dulcimer be sure you know which setup you have... Robert

Pick paranoia!

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I've settled on large, straight-edged, thinish triangle picks as my favorites for dulcimer. I also drill a hole in the center to improve the grip. I'm mostly a strum and noter player and like the slapping sound a thin pick makes on the strings. This works fine when playing with others. 

But most my playing is alone and for myself. So usually I use the side of my thumb to brush the strings fairly lightly. A sweet and mellow sound. It isn't hard to brush in both directrions, so all the interesting rhythms are possible. 

And I always know where my thumb is. Not always true with picks!

Cigar Box Guitars

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Nice work, jp. 

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@noah-coy-barfield , I should have pointed out that we have a whole group here devoted to the Baritone dulcimer . You might consider joining and checking out the conversations there.

Cigar Box Guitars

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

they fret less ..... but with wood burned markers on the side of the neck. fretted Chromatically like a guitar

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

My baritone isn't a McSpadden, but I just wanted to mention that baritones (with a quality build, like McSpadden and Folkcraft) have a beautiful voice. I really enjoy playing my songs with the baritone to give a while new sound. I'm betting you'd love a McSpadden baritone.

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks, Dusty!  The video clip really helped!

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

By the way, I moved this discussion to the Forum on Specific Luthiers so that it would be more easily located later on instead of getting lost in the General Music category.

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

@noah-coy-barfield, I had a McSpadden baritone for about a year that I had to sell when I was making another dulcimer purchase that I couldn't really afford. It was a wonderful instrument, with a strong, deep voice.  Here is the video I posted when I was obliged to sell it: 

.  Once I start talking a bunch you can stop watching, but I play a fingerpicking tune and two flatpicking tunes, so you can hear what it sounds like.  

One nice thing about McSpaddens is that they keep their value pretty well.  And they are always well made (unless you get one made from a kit, and then you never know!).

updated by @dusty: 05/01/18 08:28:40PM

McSpadden Baritone Dulcimers

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to playing the dulcimer.  I currently have a couple of standard length McSpadden dulcimers--one from 2013 and one from 1973.  I'm thinking about getting a baritone or bass dulcimer at some point in order to sing along with (I have a deep voice).

Does anyone have any experience with McSpadden's baritone dulcimers?  If so, was it a positive or negative experience?  

Thanks!

 

Noah

Cigar Box Guitars

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Beautiful work!  Did you fret them more like a dulcimer or like a guitar?

Pick paranoia!

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Don't limit yourselves with only "store bought" picks.  I've had some good success making picks from plastic lids from microwavable bowl type meals and the plastic packaging from various other products.

Happiness in a new song

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I know you have, but I will still ask the question.  Have you ever learned a new song and discovered some real happiness, and joy?  I did.

About two week ago I began learning two new songs, both of which I should have learned years prior.  I don't really know why not.

I recently purchased a new songbook from Linda W Collins, "Beyond the Basics: A Songbook."

While going over the songbook I discovered these two songs, listened to them on you tube, and began learning the songs.   Okay! Okay!  Tell us the two songs!

First:  Lisa Jane;  Second: Goin'Down to Cairo.   Then I discovered both could be played as one song.  So I learned the music and words, confidently enough to play out, Sat for a senior church group and this morning at an Assisted Living Home.  

I am hear to tell you, this joint adventure in song went over fantastic.  I received the best response from this song, better than any other.   Lots of clapping and smiling.  "That's what I am talking about", kind of stuff.   Loads of fun.

So I would say, to anyone who plays out, if you haven't already, add this one (or two), to your reportoire.   Even though it's not a Gospel song, its a "clean" song, and the folks will love it.  And you will too.

updated by @terry-wilson: 10/27/19 12:02:25PM

NDD - McSpadden 26 vsl (thumbs up)

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I agree, I've had quite a few dulcimers from other builders who missed the mark on intonation. They needed to go to new homes. I'm very particular about the tone and intonation of an instrument. I have 4 dulcimers now that are all excellent that will be keepers.

Pick paranoia!

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I managed to get to a local music shop. I picked up 17 different picks. None of them are fancy ones, but I got a variety of weights. I do seem to like the heavier picks a lot better. I'll probably keep adding to the collection and figure out which ones are my favorites.