Wow! Great advice here- thank you everyone. I can see why people need more than one dulcimer 
Removing a melody string
Great advice from everyone. Trevor mentions he will be fingerpicking, so yes, good to have equidistant strings! Id like to mention though that for Noter players, it can make more sense to remove the inner of the melody pair instead. That creates a bit of extra space to allow the tip of the Noter to avoid hitting the middle string as it slides up and down. In fact, when I have custom instruments made, I always ask for a bit of extra space between the melody string(s) and the middle string. I thought this was worth mentioning even though it does not apply in Trevors instance here. 
--
Site Owner
Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
And, of course, if you try removing the outer string and don't like the feel of it, you can always put a new one back on and see how you like it with the inner string removed.
Patty's right on this, Trevor. You want to keep the three remaining three strings as equidistant as possible. On most dulcimers that will mean you remove the outer string.
--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator
As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
The outer string is usually the one most say to remove as the inner string is about the same distance to the middle as the bass is to the middle. I was told to do that by Rob. It worked for me although at first I had a tendency to hit the board.
I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can't find it so apologies for raising it again. My dulcimer has two melody strings. If I wish to remove one, e.g. for fingerpicking, which one should it be - the inner or outer string?
Many thanks
Trevor
updated by @trevor-boyd: 06/23/17 08:13:40AM
