Hi Nate, appreciate your comments about my oddball find. Yes I do still play dulcimer. Never been a good player but like the nice feeling it's sound gives. Still have my Romanian dulcimer made by Hora. Also have a Red Kite made by the Hagan family in Missouri. Also have a 1970's Homer Ledford instrument, which is a dream.

Though I have to confess I haven't been playing them much lately as I have been putting some time into learning 5 string banjo old style. I have a great instrument from ODE in Boulder Colorado . But I still love the dulcimer and played it at Melton Christmas Folk Festival in the UK where I had several requests to explain ' what's that you're playing, sounds sweet ! '

I have heard, and tend to generally accept similar things. I almost never play in the second octave unless it's with a noter, and the frets have to be so dang precise when they're that close together, so I often just don't bother adding many extras to it. 9/10 times if I need an extra fret it's either for chord strumming, or because a tab used it, so in either case I don't usually need it an octave higher. 

I do find it especially odd that the second octave *does* have a 10.5 fret but no 8.5 fret. I would think that the 8.5 would be much more useful if you were to pick only one of the two.

@nate, I've seen well known luthiers do that in the past... only adding extra frets on the first octave, when building a new dulcimer. Like you, I thought it was odd. One time I asked and was told that most players don't play up in the second octave anyway, and also that it was tricky to get accurate tones on frets when they are so close together. Or some such explanation.

Kind of funny to see the 1.5 and 3.5 on the first octave, but no 1.5 fret on the second octave (8.5 fret). It makes me wonder if the extra frets were added after construction. In the past i have sometimes added half frets for specific arrangements, and Im usually too lazy to also add the fret to the second octave. 

Hi @jim-yates thanks for post. I puzzled for quite a time over that instrument. Finally I concluded that it was definitely homemade despite some fine detailing and I was never convinced about any heritage as a mountain dulcimer. I believe to was better related to some of the dulcimers European cousins such as Epinette des Vosges or Hummels

It had a slight curvature to the very thin fretboard  which made it quite difficult to set up. But it was great for playing the blues !!

In the end I sold it on eBay and doubled my money I got no complaints from the purchaser which I took to mean he is a better musician than me.

That looks almost like a full-chromatic fret pattern.   It would be hard for me to play without the more familiar diatonic pattern.  Hope you can have some musical fun with it!

Sorry, I see there is no edit option.  My second paragraph should have been:

Traditional dulcimers are fretted diatonically.  If "W" is "whole tone" and "H" is "half tone", from the nut it would be:
W W H W W H W W W H . . .   To play an Ionian scale, you would start on the 3rd fret.

It's a little late to be adding to this thread, but I was surprised that no one had mentioned the way Mick's dulcimer is fretted.
Traditional dulcimers are fretted diatonically.  If, f "W" is "whole tone" and "H" is "half tone", from the nut it would be: W W H W W H W W W H . . .   To play an Ionian scale, you would start on the 3rd fret.
Since the seventies, most modern dulcimers have an added fret (6+) making the frets:
W W H W W H H H W W H . . .
Folks have started adding frets as they need them and I have even seen dulcimers fretted completely chromatically.
Mick's dulcimer seems to be fretted: W H H H H H W H H H W W H H H W H H H
Can anyone see the reason for this?

Hi Ken

Thanks for all the helpful information. The pictures you posted do look remarkably similar to my device. The only difference is the bridge arrangement.

Thanks to you and everyone for your replies. I think judging from the amount of dust I extracted from the sound box Lisa is right about the vintage !!

Trapezoid shaped dulcimers dulcimers have been made for decades, though they're not as commonly produced as curve sided dulcimers. If I had to guess, Mick's used homemade dulcimer looks to be maybe from the 1970s or 80s. Yes Robin Clark made a few box dulcimers, but only within the past several years.

Didn't Robin Clark up in Wales do some trapezoid dulcimers?

Mick, here is a link to article by Jerry Rockwell on the Bear Meadows Dulcimer site: https://www.bearmeadow.com/smi/rockwell.htm  . If you scroll down to near the end of the article, there information about tuning.

I hope this helps you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

In a book by Reader's Digest many years ago there were plans for a dulcimer similar to your. The book is titled Back to Basics. Here is a phot of the article and a photo of a similar dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

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Thanks Strumela for the comment. Well I never thought I'd find a used Appalachian dulcimer on my doorstop. Only cost a few pounds as well.

Appreciate the insights

Regards

Mick

One of the defining features of a mountain dulcimer is that it has a raised fret board that runs down the middle of the body. Epinettes, scheitholts, langeliks, langspils, and hummels (all of which are considered to be more or less ancestors of the American mtn dulcimer) all have frets and/or raised fret boards that run along one side/edge of the instrument, the side nearest the player. 
I agree with Ken L that this is technically an Appalachian dulcimer. This trapezoidal shape has been used on other mtn dulcimers, btw.

Hi Josh

Thanks for the link. I had wondered about those as well, but so difficult to be certain.

Regards

Mick

Hi Ken

Thank you so much for the comment. I am surprised , but I'm old enough to appreciate experience. Thats wonderful and I'll tidy it up and restring it. I may even try to record it and see what you think.

Regards

Mick

The look reminds me on epinettes but since they are basically in the same class as dulcimers that doesn't need to mean anything: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinette_des_Vosges

Hi, Mick. I knew you are in the UK. You have a 5 string dulcimer then. They are usually strung as a doubled melody (strings closest to you), a single middle string, and a doubled bass with doubles an octave apart. There are many mountain dulcimers built in the shape of yours. The instrument is diatonically fretted; no 6 1/2 fret.  For a 23 inch VSL I recommend 0.012 size string for d, 0.016 for A, and 0.024 for the bass D. You can string it as a 3 string dulcimer by leaving off one string each of the pairs. I don't know what tuning you plan to use or how you plan to play, but here are some possible tunings. 

D,d A d,d

D,D A A.A

Of course you can also tune to G using C and G as the notes.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi Ken ,Thanks for prompt response, but I perhaps should add a bit more info as my picture doesn't show the full story. I should have noticed that before. There are a further 2 tuning pegs on the other side of the headstock. So its 5 strings. The fretboard doesn't go the full length of the body. The total length is 29 inches and the depth of the fretboard is a quarter of an inch.

The body is slightly triangular in shape. Nut to bridge is 23 inches.

I'm too new to be categoric but I don't think its an Appalachian dulcimer. Maybe I should add I'm in the UK so it might be European.

Regards

Mick

Mick, you have a mountain or Appalachian dulcimer. It looks like it is a three string model. It should be strung with bass string (wound) in the slot farthest from the player. A string in the middle of the fret board and either a single or double string in the slots closest to the player. Standard tunings are DAdd or DAA.

To determine what string should be on your dulcimer we need to know the vibrating string length (VSL). This is the distance from the inside of the nut (fret board side) to where the strings first touch the bridge.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

  I have attached a photo which I hope illustrates an instrument I picked up in a local secondhand shop. As you can see the fretboard is in the centre. It has 19 frets with a single string in the middle with pairs spaced away from it on either side. One string in the right hand pair is wound the rest are single steel wires.

I will give you the note readings on the middle string which I tuned to an open D.

So at first fret E then F, F#,G,G#,A,B,C,C#,D,E,F#,G,G#,A,B,C#,D,E The bridge sits a little high so the strings slope over the fret board rather than parallel, but I assume this was not intended. 

Does anyone know what it is ? I thought it could be an Epinette or Scheitholt but it doesn't seem to fall into what I would expect

Any guesses would help !!!

Thanks

Mick