I didn't think of your simple solutions. I think the beads are pretty. Maybe I'll get some rainbow beads and really dress up my headstock! 💐
Nothing wrong with that....it's all about having fun and making it your own. You may even start a trend in the dulcimer community. 
I didn't think of your simple solutions. I think the beads are pretty. Maybe I'll get some rainbow beads and really dress up my headstock! 💐
I bend them back like Strumelia and make sure the cut end is inside the tuner hole.
Cute idea. I cut my string ends to about 1/8-1/4" which keeps them out of harms way. But, with (currently) 4 guitars, 7 dulcimers, and 3 other stringed instruments, I have had my share of string pokes while changing strings (since I started playing 49 years ago).
That's pretty cute Sheryl! Clever.
I usually take a small needle nose pliers and bend the very ends right back on themselves like a little loop.
Kept stabbing my fingers on the ends of my strings. Glued beads on the ends. No more pokes.
Yes, you can. I think the gauges (from melody to bass) would be 0,012, 0.016, and 0.025. If those are a light, you can go up to 0.014, 0.018, and 0.026, 0.027, or 0.028.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Can I change strings to make it into a baritone mountain dulcimer. I am just curious because I love the sound of it
You can tune a dulcimer any way you want to. DAd or DAdd happens to be the most popular tuning at the moment. In the groups I play with we also play in DAA, DAC, DAG, EAA, CGG. and a few others. I play mostly three string dulcimer hence the references. If you play with 4 equidistant strings you have many other tuning possibilities. One caution is that you may need to change string gauges to reach some tunings. You'll know if you start breaking strings that you'll need another gauge.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Then I have a question. The person I bought the mountain dulcimer from says the tuning is Dadd. On acoustic guitar you can change the tuning. I am wondering on a dulcimer if you can change the tuning or if you have to leave it with the tuning it came with?
If the tuning is A2E3A3 [lower than DAd] or similar it's a baritone. The physical dimensions won't be an indicator.
When I went on vacation I bought a mountain dulcimer Length 36” Height 2” Width 9.5” VSL 28.5-29” Width of strings 2” I am wondering if it could be a baritone mountain dulcimer. The picture is on my member page. Thanks for all your help
Yeah that does sound awesome Ken. Have a great time! Don't catch covid.
Teddy, it's a great time for you! That dulcimer will probably smell like fresh wood and lacquer-- the "new dulcimer smell", not unlike the "new car smell" that everybody knows.
At least you won't have to wait an hour after delivery for the box to warm up, like you do in deepest winter!
My new Clemmer Mountain Dulcimer is 'Out for Delivery' scheduled to arrive sometime today (that usually means afternoon/evening) - I think time has been broken... I checked the clock an hour and half ago, and it read 8:52AM - I just checked now, and it reads 8:53AM. lol. I am SO looking forward to seeing and getting to know my new (first ever) dulcimer!
Safe travels, Ken! I hope you have a delight-filled visit to what sound like magical places.
Off to the UK tomorrow morning early. Spending four weeks seeing old friends, Lady Sally's sister, The Ring of Broca on Orkney and other archaeological delights, plus spending 4 nights at Wedderburn Castle attending the Clan Home/Hume Gathering for the first time and visiting/revisiting many of the Clan sights around the Scottish East March.
Chord playing does not require a 6+ fret. Nor does it require D-A-D tuning (or other 1-5-8 tuning). If you choose to play chord-melody style, you can do it without the 6+ fret. And you can do it out of D-A-A (or other 1-5-5 tuning). The use of D-A-D tuning and its association with chord-melody style is a matter of choice, not necessity.
If I never used the 6+ it probably wouldn't matter to me (?).
You said you would like to probably experiment with chord playing, so i strongly suggest adding at least the 6.5 fret. (And it's 'octave companion' 13.5 fret if you get up that far)
Thank you Dusty - that's the book I need. I'm getting that tunings is a big part of dulcimers, not generally a thing I've done much with in life (the occasional drop D, that's about it!).
Off to explore the making area now.
cheers, Douglas
Thanks for the responses. I am building this for my own use and am coming from a background of finger style guitar so I may be best building in flexibility. If I never used the 6+ it probably wouldn't matter to me (?).
I shall read Dusty's 'what are half frets?' thread. This is all an explore for me, don't even know how this first build will sound! My guess is rather bright - I've done some things that are not traditional like a graphite reinforced floating neck... sorry!!
Briefly... (maybe). The 6 1/2 fret is not necessary for chording or playing more modern music. Check out the playing of Robert Force, Dan Evans and the late Roger Nicholson, none of whom use/used a 6 1/2 fret. Is the 6 1/2 convenient? You betcha. I have more instruments without the 6 1/2 than I do with (I think) and tune to 1-5-8 as much as 1-5-5. BTW, If you're in 1-5-5 an interesting tuning is to raise the bass string a whole step giving you a 5-1-1 tuning in the Mixolydian mode. Now, after saying I would be brief, I must go practice and try to figure out what I'll play on Sunday.
Douglas -- the dulcimer isn't "fretted for a mixolydian scale". As Dusty says, a dulcimer is traditionally fretted Diatonically -- does not include the half intervals of a full Chromatic fretboard like a guitar. As he also says, back in the 1970s builders started adding the 6+ half interval to allow them the play both a Mixolydian Modal scale and an Ionian Modal scale from the same tuning.
If you are building this dulcimer for personal use, then the question of whether to include the 6+ fret depends on your playing style and musical choices.
IF you tune DAd (or any Mixolydian tuning) and play Chord Melody style -- fretting across all courses, THEN I would include the 6+ fret (and possibly the 1+ fret as Dusty suggests).
IF you play Noter & Drone or Fingerdance style -- fretting only the melody string, THEN I would forego the 6+ fret and learn to quickly change the tuning of just the Melody string to switch between all of the Modal tunings as needed.
Alternatively you can forego the 6+ fret and tune to a Unison or "dropped Unison" tuning (ddd or Ddd for example). This does for those of us who do not have the 6+ fret, what that half fret does for people who only tune DAd -- that is allow us play more than one scale from the same tuning.
As far as an appropriate place for your question -- it's always better IMHO to start a new thread with a new question rather than "riding the coattails" of someone else's Q&A. That way others who have your same question can more easily find it and our responses to you.
Whew! That's a mouthful of names right there, Banjimer!
In a previous post in this thread, I incorrectly stated a family connection between David Love and brothers Smith Oliver and Millard Oliver. I have since discovered that David Love was the grandson of General Miles Love, who I had erroneously identified as being directly related to the Oliver's. The half-brother of the Oliver's was Silas Jackson McGuire, not General Miles Love.
However, David Love's grandfather, General Miles Love, did have a direct connection to the Beech Mountain dulcimer tradition. He was the son of Polly Presnell and his connection to the Beech Mountain dulcimer tradition was through Polly Presnell's son, Roosevelt Vance Presnell, and grandson, James Miles Presnell. Polly Presnell, incidentally, was the younger sister of Beech Mountain dulcimer maker, Eli Taylor Presnell. And General Miles Love and Roosevelt Vance Presnell were brothers.
Roosevelt Vance Presnell and his son, James Miles Presnell, were Beech Mountain neighbors of the Hicks family. Their dulcimers follow the same pattern as dulcimers made by Leonard and Clifford Glenn.
Douglas, as I think you know, the dulcimer was originally a diatonic instrument. Some time around the early seventies or so, the 6-1/2 fret started to become pretty common. It is now the most common configuration of frets on a dulcimer. It allows people tuned in what was a mixolydian tuning to also play the ionian mode or major scale. The second most common "extra" fret is the 1-1/2 fret, which you are referring to as the minor 3rd. I like that extra fret because in a 1-5-8 tuning you get the lowered third on the melody string and the lowered seventh on the middle string, so it's conducive to playing the blues.
A while back I posted a piece called " What are Half Frets and Do I Need Any ?" It will likely answer your questions.
Is this the right place for my question? I'm new to dulcimers and want to understand why some frets are left out but others included. In particular is seems it's fretted for a mixolydian scale, plus the 6 1/2 fret (major 7 of root/open). It appears some makers delete that major 7, and some keep it and add a minor 3rd.
I'm making a dulcimer at the moment and am approaching the fretting stage - so, keep the 6 1/2? add a minor 3?, leave both off...
It may help if I say I come from guitars and am likely to want to try chords and finger style, minor keys as well as major, explore various modes etc. The one I'm building is 4 tuner, but I'll probably string it 3 at first (can change bridge & nut easliy later to adjust string spacing).
If this question belongs somewhere else, please help relocate me!
thanks, Douglas
Hey Douglas and welcome to FOTMD.
The go-to book for chords that includes more tunings than you will ever utilize is Neal Hellman's Dulcimer Chord Book , originally published by Mel Bay in 1981. You can probably find pretty inexpensive used copies, but even new it only goes for about $10.
We have a group here specifically on Dulcimer Making . Go ahead and join that group, peruse the existing conversations, and start a new one if you have a question that is not already answered somewhere.
I'm new here and new to the dulcimer (as a player and maker) but listen to a lot of traditional music so not new to hearing the dulcimer played. Two questions please: is there a recommended or favoured chord chart book for the most common tunings? And how do I find the group here about building them - I'm building one at the moment.
Many thanks for all help!
Douglas
Just for background, things I have and play: Fender bass, Mayones fretless bass, Furch OM31 acoustic; Esteve 8F flamenco.
Listen to: huge variety but e.g. Aoife ODonovan;, Adrienne Lenker, Emmylou Harris, Tim O'Brien, (etc).
Squeakyhawk -- Welcome to our happy place. There is an ancient style of presentation which I use often -- play a verse/sing a verse. I have issues with combining the two things, so I just don't. No reason you can't use the same technique. At least start with speaking the verse, then when you get more comfortable chant the verse in time to open strums.
Yes, Pluck is a must read book. My student gave me copy on Thursday night and Monday morning I was finished. I didn't think I'd like the lay-out but it was really good. Only wish a couple of people who have gone on since David could have been around to add some details. I've read parts of it several times and hope to re-read the whole soon. Get it; read it.
"PLUCK" is an amazing and unusual book. I obtained a copy and read through it with much interest and wonder. So many people, so many events being interwoven for David's entire life. Quite extraordinary.
@salt-springs I read Pluck and will re-read it sometime. I learned lots about David Schnaufer and other players, too!
Welcome. So you can’t sing, huh. Compared to who?
There are many many amateur entertainers who can’t sing, but they sing anyway. Learn two songs that are in your range, practice, and go for it.
Hi I was given a mountain dulcimer for my birthday. Then I went to Ohio on vacation and went into a used musical instruments store and I couldn’t help myself and bought another mountain dulcimer. I guess know I better learn how to play it. I also play guitar and learning how to play Native American Flute. I have written some songs. I am very much an amateur player and I can’t sing. So the songs I wrote I speak them along with playing an instrument
On August 23, 2006 David Schnaufer, probably one of the greatest Dulcimer player ever, left us. I was thinking this morning that many new players may not realize the influence he had in making the dulcimer well known to both professional and amateur musicians. So many great players have gone on..........and by the way, Linda Paulus' book, PLUCK is a great read..........you should get a copy and reflect upon the musicians mentioned, some of whom are still around and members of FOTMD. (Thanks for doing what you continue to do!)
There have been so many...................
Ken accurately enumerates the many variables that affect the sound of an instrument, and you have two very different instruments here in terms of size, design, wood, etc. You even tune them to different keys and different modes! In short, they should sound different.
In general, most luthiers have a consistent feel and sound, but within that consistency is room for variation depending on the specific model, the woods chosen, the bracing, etc.
Susie, I have several guitars and ukuleles on my walls, but only two dulcimers. I guess I need to remedy that!
