I'm glad to hear that you contacted Warren and the he is helping you. There is nothing like going directly to the builder for help.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Wedge shaped floating bridge
Mr May said the wedge-shaped bridge was not original and kindly sent me two normal ones in the mail!
One other question: I went to swap out the original machine heads on one of my May dulcimers with the same mini-rotomatics in a different color. The shop I took it to noted that the new tuners didn't quite fit correctly and had to use extra washers. I'll ask Mr May, but the shop wondered if he'd shortened the tuners somehow.
This dulcimer is green poplar and came with gold tuners, which I don't love. Black or chrome don't quite look right either. I wish there was some kind of ivory-looking option that would fit, but the space is tight and I'd rather not drill a bunch of new holes...
I would suspect that the taller end goes under the bass string as well, for the reason Wally mentioned. A lot of times, I've found that the bass string has more wobble, and buzzes against the frets more easily, so I avoid the problem by setting it just a smidge higher and adjusting the bridge placement accordingly.
Excellent suggestion, Ken.
Warren's phone number is on his website https://www.warrenamay.com/contact-us/
When you get the answer, please let us know what he says. I'm sure several of us who do our own maintenance will be interested in why a "bridge" might have different heights for melody and bass.
Why don't you email or call Warren and ask him?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I would think the bass string might have been set higher to avoid the string buzzing on some of the middle frets. There were no standard "dulcimer string" sets in 2006 and he may not have found a really good size of banjo or guitar would string.
Full photo
Hello everyone!
I have a 2006 cherry Warren May hourdrop, haven't spent too much time with it yet but noticed it has a floating bridge that is wedge shaped. I restrung a few days ago and I'm assuming the "lower" end of the bridge goes under the heavier bass string- is this correct? What's the advantage to this wedge shape vs a flat-top bridge? A have a recent May that has a floating bridge that's even on the top.
if it matters, it's tuned to DAA and has no extra frets 😉
updated by @greatlakes73: 09/06/25 09:03:36PM
