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!
