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Location: Oregon
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Wow, that is lovely and very impressive!
It was my first attempt at making a scroll. Here are a couple pictures of it incompleted
That dulcimer looks very cool Nate! I like the stain color.
Did you carve that scroll and pegbox, or is it reused from an old dulcimer? It looks very old style.
We look forward to hearing how this sounds!
It was my first attempt at making a scroll. Here are a couple pictures of it incompleted
That dulcimer looks very cool Nate! I like the stain color.
Did you carve that scroll and pegbox, or is it reused from an old dulcimer? It looks very old style.
We look forward to hearing how this sounds!
Thank you, and I did carve the scroll and pegbox. The peg box is a 1x2 of red oak stained with "dark walnut" stain and the scroll is two 1x2s stacked, then filed down to shape. I didn't actually look into scrolls so I just carved it intuitively based on others I've seen, and it turned out to be a 'snail shell' shape.
Nate
Oh, okay, I misunderstood. I don't think I've ever seen a gap that wide at the peg head end. I've seen a few that end maybe a quarter inch from the pegbox and others where there is slight gap between the fret board and peg box. I see that without a nut you needed to add pins to keep the strings aligned.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ken,
On my next one I intend to install a bone "spacer" past the zero fret on the fingerboard rather than pins or a 'nut'. I prefer a zero fret to a 'nut' because of the consistency of tone. The goal with the 'gap' was to increase the resonance that travels off the 'fingerboard' down to the soundboard by letting the 'fingerboard' transmit vibrations in all directions.
Nate
That dulcimer looks very cool Nate! I like the stain color.
Did you carve that scroll and pegbox, or is it reused from an old dulcimer? It looks very old style.
We look forward to hearing how this sounds!
Oh, okay, I misunderstood. I don't think I've ever seen a gap that wide at the peg head end. I've seen a few that end maybe a quarter inch from the pegbox and others where there is slight gap between the fret board and peg box. I see that without a nut you needed to add pins to keep the strings aligned.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ken, I am specifically referring to the gap I added on the other end of the fingerboard, as shown in this photo
having a gap on both ends seems to affect the tone quite a lot.
Nate, here is a photo of an early Folkcraft based on the design of the Hughes Dulcimer Company Instruments. The bridge is situated over the end block. This is where the top is glued to end block so there wouldn't be much vibration at that spot. There is a span of 5.75 inches between the end of the fret board and the end block.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Nate, I was looking through some photos on my computer to see if I had any photos of "gap" dulcimers. I only found one in a group photo of some dulcimers. The biggest difference between yours and this one is that there is a large flat piece of wood under the bridge. It is the instrument on the extreme left.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ken that is a cool instrument and thank you for sharing. In reference to the 'gap,' I am referring to the space between the nut and the tuners. My fingerboard terminates about 2 inches short of the pegbox, which makes the entire fingerboard an "island" surrounded by soundboard on all 4 sides. The goal of this was to increase resonance even more than I can with a "discontinuous fretboard" that stops after the highest fret.
Nate
Nate, I was looking through some photos on my computer to see if I had any photos of "gap" dulcimers. I only found one in a group photo of some dulcimers. The biggest difference between yours and this one is that there is a large flat piece of wood under the bridge. It is the instrument on the extreme left.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Thank you very much!
Ken, I did not know that. Is there a certain style of dulcimer this is associated with? Id love to know more.
Robin, I am having a hard time finding the right balance, but it does seem to add a 'roundness' to the tone. I know most people think of the fingerboard as a "brace that limits the vibration of the top" so I have been trying to make a dulcimer where the fingerboard is more like a 'really big saddle' and this is one attempt.
Nice build from inexpensive materials. I wouldn't consider a "fingerboard gap" experimental as they have been around for quite some time. I'm sure you will get around to making a video for this dulcimer and tell us more about it.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Cool scroll, Nate!
I'm curious about your "fingerboard gap". Do you feel it brings advantage to the sound (due to more vibrating top)?