Thanks everybody I think you're right I should just leave well enough alone if the instrument plays fine, I have no issues with the way it sounds at all, And it sounds really good. I think I'm just getting caught up in all this technical stuff, one of the drawbacks to YouTube I guess. Thanks Nate and Ken

I am not sure about the "one size" anecdote, but dramatically changing string size will dramatically change intonation. In the past, when I have already installed a fixed bridge, and it is only off by a couple cents, I will sometimes file a slot or two slightly deeper to adjust it. Not my favorite solution, but it shouldn't affect playability very much. For that reason, I recommend taking a tuner and fretting each note to see if the instrument is well intonated. If all the notes are in tune, I'd say leave it alone. If they're not, then it may be fair to assume that the strings are at different heights due to imprecision.
Nate

I've never heard that about not going up/down one string size once you set the action.    I suppose it's possible to adjust intonation by having the strings at different heights, but certainly is not a common technique.  Normally, folks who worry about intonation (not all of us by any stretch) adjust the angle at which the bridge sets to the strings -- usually the bass end of the bridge is something like 1/16" to 1/8" farther down the fretboard than the melody end  rather than exactly 90 degrees to the line of the strings.

Gotta remember that the dulcimer is still a folk instrument.  People keep trying to apply fancy orchestral instrument "tweaks" to an instrument never intended for such things.

Hey thanks Nate. It does have a fixed bridge. Is that why I have heard that one should only go up or down one size string size

once you sent the action?

I would recommend checking the frets with a tuner before making any alterations. It may be the case that the strings are set at different heights to accommodate their location on an installed bridge. There may be very small variations in the bridge that are actually adjustments made for intonation.
Nate

Thanks for getting back to me I was just curious.  About a year ago well not quite a year ago I bought a folk roots instrument from Folkcraft. My friend just loaned me his StewMac digital string gauge that he had and I decided to check the action on the instrument that I got from  folkcraft Just out of curiosity not knowing any difference whether it was right or wrong looks like the melody string was set at .028, The middle string was set at 0.31, And the base string was set at .016. Since they Folkcraft are professionals I was curious was that a correct setting or should they all be set at one uniformed distance. so I'm guessing they're setting was way off thanks for all the feedback. Guess I'll try the Nickel Dime trick 

In all my 50+ years of playing dulcimer, I've never seen anyone set the action at different heights from melody to bass.  I always set my action height as Nickel & Dime -- a nickel thickness above the fretboard at the first fret, and a dime thickness above the 7th fret.  

That would be preferable in my view.

Hi kids just a question about string action I noticed there was something about action in The Forum but I didn't see anything addressing my question of uninformative for lack of a better

Word.  Also I know that it's all a matter of personal taste. Some people like white wine, some people like red wine. Hopefully this makes some sense. Let us say hypothetically at the 1st fret you set the action of the bottom of the melody string at let's say .020 now. Should you also set the middle string and the bass string at .020  as well ? So the action is uniformed across all three strings at the first fret.