Forum Activity for @sid1866

Travel dulcimer/strumstick with extra frets

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thank you all for your replies!

Dusty - Yes, its tuned Dad -  I'll try the chord variations you mention. I realised I can play it on my lap and using my thumb, the A chord is no problem then as well.

Shopdad - glad my question broadened your knowledge!

Theoretically, If I did put a capo on the seventh fret as Skip mentioned, I would just still have 7ish frets - the same as a Seagull Merlin - however the frets with the smaller dots seem to indicate half frets, so I guess that too wouldn't work. 

As my instrument has the 1+ fret then I'm assuming that I have other chord variations to hand but that's something I'll have to work out.

Thanks guys!

Travel dulcimer/strumstick with extra frets

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hello, I'm after some advice. I have a stick dulcimer that I bought off someone last year. He said he had it custom made for him in the U.S. (I'm in the UK) he loved this thing but couldn't play well anymore due to arthritis. It's a great instrument and I tend to play it more than my normal dulcimer (a Romanian model) as it's sounds nicer and the action is better. The thing that puzzles me is it has an extra 1+ fret (and some others further down?) This makes it difficult to play certain chords, e.g. A, because I have stretch my hand further. 

My question is, if I re-tuned it and put a capo on it could I then play it in D like a normal dulcimer. Not sure if that makes sense? I'm wondering if the different sized fret space would mess up the actual tuning if I used a capo?

I have attached a photo, so you can see what I'm talking about. Inside it say "W.R Powell, Clarksville, AR - Feb - May 07"

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!