Thank you, Ken! Great advice on trying different strings... I had one of those "I should have had a V-8!" moments when I read that! Of course! I'll pick several different ones and try them out. Figured out the loop or ball part too! Thank you so much! 

Selah, you are getting good advice and the members here are very knowledgable and have help me tremendously. From a personal perspective, I don't really care for the 'twang' or ''buzzing'/'squeal' you get when using a wound string.  It is a matter of personal preference.  

Not too light.... a bit light.  But since you're playing bare finger chording and bare finger strumming, and are just getting started, the slightly reduced string tension will help your fingers.  I play Noter & Drone style, and would probably use a .022, .014 and .012 strings.  With experience you'll discover which strings work best for you.  Strings are cheap, and finding which strings work best for your style of play is part of learning the art of the dulcimer.

That .020 should be a wound string; the others should be plain steel.  The only other thing you need to know to buy or order strings is what kind of ends the existing strings have -- brass ball ends or plain loops.

The strings recommended could be considered light so you could go to .022/023-.013/.014-.011/012. The lighter strings are easier to press down at the expense of a little volume. It doesn't really pertain to experience, but more to how the feel to your fingers and personal preference. 

Thank you, Ken! I did go and use the calculator... results were 0.20  / 0.13 / 0.10  for DAd    Skip mentioned below that the results may be too light.  Any thoughts? I appreciate all your help! 

Thank you, Skip! That helps a lot...  Can you help me to understand your comment about the strings being light? Are you saying a thicker string would be better as a newbie? or just in general. (totally green here!) thanks!

Go to www.strothers.com and enter your VSL -- the distance between nut and bridge.  Then enter the basic tuning that you are using -- DAA or DAd (not DAD or you'll get the wrong string size) one at a time --  and the calculator will do all the work for you.

Brand is irrelevant -- there are a literal handful of companies in the world which make music wire of various gauges, and they sell boxcar loads of the stuff to Martin, D'Addario, D'Arco and other string "manufacturers" who put on the ends (ball or loop), cut the string to various lengths, and put them in packages.  It's all the same wire, regardless of the name on the package.

Personally I buy strings from www.juststrings.com because I can buy sets of strings for under $3 per set instead of the $5 to $8 you pay for brand name strings from a music shop. 

When it comes time to replace the strings, only remove and change one string at a time.  If you remove them all, you stand a chance of moving the location of the bridge, which can really mess up how your dulcimer sounds...

This will help. The results are a bit light so you can increase the size a couple of sizes. You should be aable to find single strings at a local music shop.

http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html

Hello. I would like to replace the strings on my new-to-me dulcimer... I noticed a few of the strings have a small amount of rust. I am not sure how old these strings actually are so I figured best to start out with new ones. Anyway I would love to hear recommendations for strings... Brand and size would be helpful. My dulcimer has a 26.5" fret board from nut to bridge.  I am learning chords and picking with just my fingers and not using a noter or pick, plus I'm a newbie player, if that matters any also. Thank you in advance for your thoughts on the subject! ~ Selah