Thanks again Ken and Ken. Yes, I had searched for info on a Wizard dulci.... nothing. No label can be seen thru the f holes. Nice to know it might be fairly decent. I have been keeping it as close to 40% RH. Not easy here in the high mountain/desert of western NV.
Mystery Dulcimer
Offhand I'd say it looks like someone's attempt to have an Everything Dulcimer. Something that could be set up with a wide range of string setups from 3 to 8 strings. Which begs the question, "why not nine?" A nine string dulcimer could at least have 3 courses of 3 strings. Unless this was someone's attempt at a dulci-mandolin".
The body looks to have been made by someone who really knew what they were doing. The quality looks top shelf.
But that chicken-scratch "Wizard" and date looks more like someone's poor attempt to individualize the instrument rather than a professional ID. The old time dulcimer builders who hand carved their names into their products did a MUCH more professional signature than that!
No search I could make found any "wizard dulcimer" maker or company.
No maker's label visible through the soundholes, on the inside bottom?
To tell you what gauge strings you need, you need to tell us what the Vibrating String Length is (what a guitar player calls the Scale Length) -- the distance between nut and bridge. Then, assuming you want to tune to D like most dulcimers (the bass string is D the others are tuned relative to that), we can tell you string guages.
Sagebum, the dulcimer is really a four string dulcimer with doubled courses. There are a variety of ways this dulcimer could be tuned; DD aa aa dd, GG, DD, AA, EE ( like a mandolin), etc. It is hard to give you answer on string gauges without knowing the vibrating string length. For the notes you have, you can just duplicate those strings. If you know the VSL you can use Strothers' string calculator to determine what gauges you need. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I am new to the dulcimer and have been given one. It has 5 strings but looks like it should have 8.
1st Question: How do I string this up properly with 8 strings and in terms of gauges.
2nd Question: Does anyone know anything about this dulcimer? Attached pics. Also, lightly stamped on the back of the headstock Is WIZARD 030177. I assume the number is the date it was made, Is Wizard dulcimer maker? I live in somewhat of a folk instrument wasteland, so nobody has a clue about it.
I play banjo, guitar, and bass fiddle so I don't know how far I will get with another instrument but even with just 5 strings it sounds very pleasant.
Thanks for any help that can be offered.
