Thanks, Skip--now I can rest, knowing that I've not lost my marbles or that I'm missing something.  Space saver makes total sense.  I was trying to study one of my instruction books and realized hey, wait, that should be lower, and thought I had totally misunderstood where I was supposed to be on the scale.  Phew!

Lisa; 

Showing the 'D' like that is a space saver. It would take another staff [bass staff], below to to put it in its proper spot. These two staffs, together, are called a 'grand staff'.

There should be an '8vb' to show that the notes are actually those an octave lower than written.

Ann, no, I meant when there is tab that also has the musical notes displayed, the notes in the treble clef have the D above middle C as the note you're playing when you play the bass D string open.  So it's like the notes are an octave higher for printing purposes than they truly are...make more sense?

Lisa, if you mean that the tabs are showing the D on the bass string as d, then that would confuse anyone! Capital letters C - B are how we indicate notes in the octave immediately below middle c. The octave beginning with middle c is: c - b, lower case letters. Two octaves below middle c is often indicated by an apostrophe as, C' - B' and on the other end of the scale it's c' - b'. So when you write your own tabs you can note it this way and when you come back to a tune you won't have to wonder "Did I mean c or C when I wrote this!" Hope this helps!

Ann

Ken, thanks for confirming the D3, A3, D4 notation. I have a tuner app on my phone that has a dial-like (circular) interface, but uses that notation to depict octaves.That was hard for me to get used to, since I picture octaves linearly, like a piano. 

The thing that confuses me is that most tab will show open D on the bass as the D right above middle C, so an octave higher than I would expect.  This confuses me when I'm trying to adapt other music to the dulcimer and make my own tab. I am going to presume this is done for visual ease as opposed to absolute accuracy??? And I should just "center" any music within the octaves I have and go for it, if that makes sense.

The low D is the D below middle C. The A is the A below middle C. The high Ds are the note above middle C. If you do no have access to a keyboard, you can call up these notes on your computer to hear how they sound. This should help get you in the neighborhood. Remember to keep the note sounding as you turn the tuning peg. If your Korg gives the octave of the note you are tuning to the notes are (low to high) D3, A3, D4.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The notes are the letters A through G, then begin again with A. There are some sharps and flats along the way as well.

Depending upon which note you start with, the tuner will show D, then E, then F, then F#, then G, G# and A. Be sure to only turn the tuning peg when the string is vibrating.

Hope this helps.

I recently had an accident with my dulcimer and have had to restring it.

I have a Korg electronic tuner and have the two high D strings in tune. I think the middle A string is low as well as the Bass D string. I am very nervous in tightening these strings as I am afraid of breaking them as I have done before. What is the note progression approaching the Middle A string so I know I am getting close and have not gone too far. The same on the bass D string.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.