As opposed to what? Cat gut? I've never seen one that didn't have metal strings, come to think of it. I figure I'll use D'Addario dulcimer strings on it, and use tuners from my Washburn 12-string that is in extremely dire need of a neck job and needs more work than the guitar is worth. Good tuners.
Have you seen ?
I think that "mountain" is because it was a folk version which originated in the Appalachian _mountains_ rather than the hammered version which is closer to its zither roots, with maybe a bit of clavichord....
You can use any string material. Had one girl who made hers out of twisted sheep intestine. The wood "bending" is really not much, if you're talking the convex designs. Even the waisted variety is easily steamed.
You can actually str>
I think that may be more true of the term "lap" dulcimer. A hammered dulcimer is generally a fairly large instrument with its own stand.
Check out this place:
You can get the wood you need - either in kits or rectangular pieces palned to thickness. You should DEFINATELY get a pre cut Fret board - the formula for the measurements of the frets is pretty exact, and the boards come slotted to accept fret wire
Give them a call (or email) and tell them what you want to do, - they'll answer your questions and fix you up.
JD
I have now. Thanks.
Not worried about the planing, but...
...a pre-cut fretboard seems like it might just be worth the bother. I've got a chart right here telling me just where they need to go, but I have no idea how to measure to four decimal places across 26" or whatever I pick for the scale length. Seems like some real good opportunities to screw the pooch on that deal.
I'll check'em out. Getting excited about this whole idea. I was going to make another chess box, but I probably would have made another chess box long before now if I REALLLY wanted one. I've just been looking for something to do I guess. This seems like it.
Although any desire I have to do stuff is greatly tempered by the 40 pounds of medical bills I know will soon begin to flow into my mailbox.
Nothing like the feeling of taking wood and making it into a musical instrument.
Wasn't the old rule of thumb the "Rule of 17?"
The distance to the next fret is 1/17th the remaining distance down the neck?
Seems you could make slide-rule device with a logarithmic scale to calculate that measure directly.
bother. I've
Pre slotted fret boards are cheap enough - and they're perfectly slotted for both fretwire and nuts. Better to spend your time on nice inlays for the fret board.
Dunno. Seems plausible.
'Cept I'm one o' them newfangled whippersnappers and I don't have the foggiest clue how to use a slide rule, or what a logarithmic is. :)
How many crafstman points would I lose for using a canned fret board? They really are quite cheap, seems to me. I forget what it added up to, but pre-cut with frets installed and everything was less than $20, I think. It would save a lot of fiddly work that sounds easy to screw up.
I don't remember if they offered options though. I'd want a full chromatic scale. Playing Dad's dulcimer drives me nuts because of all the missing frets.
Yes, it is. You could be the greatest Dulcimer builder in the world, and I don't think anyone would notice how exact your Fret Slots were sawn, or the fact that they were perfectly square (unless, of course, they weren't)
Yes, they do. You can get it with the "6 1/2 Fret" in order to be fully chromatic. (it's halfway between the 6th and 7th frets) Without it, you'd be missing the "Ti" (as in Do-Ray-Me-Fa.......etc)
I'm not actually so much worried about square as getting them in just the right spot.
I don't think so, would I? I haven't paid that much attention to the scale on Dad's, but I think it's a diatonic instrument. So it has a ti as well as everything else in a normal major scale, but you can't play any accidentals on it.
Anyway, so I seem to have one vote for "we'll still respect you in the morning if you cheat on the frets." Do I hear a second? :)
I have since, and yes, I've got more resources than I can shake a stick at.
I also found and bought a book about making hammered dulcimers too. At a grand to buy a decent one, it seems like maybe I ought to give it a crack after all.
Heck, if I could make these things I might even sell one once in awhile.
Think I might try a bowed psaltry too. Been wanting one of those for years, but too cheap to pay for one. Think SWMBO would let me have her hair to make a bow? :)
She might consider it a very romantic gesture. And a psaltry is even easier to make (and play) than a mountain dulcimer.
BTW: Do you know that the mountain dulcimer and the highland/Irish bagpipes are the only instruments tuned in parallel 5ths? Explains why "Amazing Grace" works so well on the pipes.
--RC
Projects expand to fill the clamps available -- plus 20 percent
Well.... if it's not square, then it's not in the right spot, is it?
Huh? I could make lots of perfectly square cuts at random places down the fretboard, and it wouldn't play music very well. Cutting perpendicular to the length is easy. Placing the cuts in the right spots is another matter entirely.
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