Jan

One of my (50? year old cheap) dulcimers lives in the back seat of my car. When I take it into a group practice session and the outside temperature is below freezing, I try to allow it to acclimatize for at least 10 minutes before I try to tune it.

"Back in the day," all musical instruments were expected to survive in rooms which varied from -5F to 100F over the course of a year. Good instruments are still occasionally found in old barns. With modern materials, etc. there is no reason why we should be overly concerned about environment, provided we protect them from things like extended direct exposure to the Sun and HVAC outlets.

(Museum collections of rare instruments are perhaps an exception.)

Well, this reply is too late to really help you with your question. One of the primary reasons for allowing instruments; especially guitars, to acclimate is that a quick change in temperature would cause gloss lacquer finishes to craze. Of course it may also cause some stress on glue joints as wood expands as it heats up. Mountain dulcimers are not as delicate as guitars, imho. I've opened most dulcimers right away when they've arrived at my home. A few I let sit for four hours or so if was below freezing outside. I never had any problems.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Oh now, I introduced myself too soon as I thought my very first dulcimer was arriving that very day. However, UPS lost it at the Nashville hub at @ 2 AM, the last time it was seen!! Thankfully, the kind folks in NC sent me another via Fed Ex and it arrived this afternoon. I am used to letting guitars acclimate for 24 hours before tearing into the box. Can I assume I should do the same with the walnut dulcimer?  I have been reading and looking at potential songs for over a week now and anxious to try and see my first dulcimer of my own.

Welcome to FOTMD, Jan. I'm a little behind the others in welcoming you. I'm glad that you are starting mountain dulcimer in your retirement. It will give you many hours of pleasure. We are happy to answer questions even if we answered them before. Sometimes previous answers get lost in the forum if you don't have the proper key words for your search. Don't hesitate to ask if you can't find an answer quickly. You may be helping someone else out who wants to know but was too shy to ask. It's good to have you aboard.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi all,

Thanks so much for welcoming me into this group. I have to admit I jumped ahead a bit as my dulcimer does not arrive until tomorrow and I will let it acclimate until Tuesday, as painful as the wait is! I will have a ton of questions but will browse to see if the info is already available, to not repeat. I play 6 string guitars, tenor guitar and baritone ukes, but a dulcimer has always been something I loved the sound of since an early age in East TN. I already have several dulcimers books and have been looking over all I can find. I just watched a YT video today of a Walnut Valley Dulcimer festival and was amazed at the various genres I heard. Thanks again and I will be browsing to learn from all and eventually hope to help others. 

Hi Jan, and welcome to the wonderful world of the Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer.  It's a good place to come, spend some time, learn about the dulcimer, and to meet some good people.

Ben

Welcome Jan to Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer. So glad you joined. You have found the place to be to connect with like minded dulcimer people. There is a lot of information here. Look around. Join in the discussions and please ask if you have questions. We are here to help each other.