Thank you both!

What Dusty said. That' what I do.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Unless you are going to play with a noter, definitely remove the outer string so that the remaining three would be equidistant.  That extra space on the fretboard is nothing to be feared and would actually make bending the string a bit easier.

If you play with a noter, you might want to remove the inner string so that the melody string is separated a bit more from the drones.

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

So, I'm back, as I forewarned you all. I got my walnut TK O'Brien yesterday and really like it... definitely sounds different from my traditional 1985 David Mahoney I'm keeping in DAA and free of 1/2 frets. I've decided I really like the DAD tuning as well, and may get more into chords and what not than I had previously anticipated. Anyway, the title of this post sounds pretty simple and self-explanatory and it ought to be obvious to anyone who can use a yardstick. But, it ain't clear to me. Please see the pic. I don't know which melody string to remove to make 3 equidistant. It appears that if I remove the outer melody string then the remaining three will pretty much be equidistant. But... that'll leave that side of the fretboard with a wider space than what is currently seen on the other side of the fretboard with that first drone string. So, if I do remove that outer melody string, and with that consequent wider space between that edge of the fretboard and the remaining melody string, is that gonna pose any sort of problem or future problem... problems in learning or transitioning to another MD? Options? Ideas? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!