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Cigar Box (?) Mountain Dulcimer Designs

Having built a few standard CBG's and Strummersticks (almost all 3-strings tuned GDg),, I'm intrigued by the idea of a mountain dulcimer. I'm guessing the lap-style would be to reverse the high-to-low strings and tuning dd-A-D (the twin dd melody strings being at the 'top' of the fretboard, in typical CBG layout). OR, if I take the Seagull design idea, played more like a typical guitar, go D-A-dd. Am I on the right track here?

Also, why are the twin strings tuned to the same note (like on dulcimers or mandolins)? THanks for your insights!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 24, 2018 at 10:43am

Wow! Very nice Taff!

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Permalink Reply by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on January 24, 2018 at 11:01am

Taff - wow! that's absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 25, 2018 at 10:36am

This gives me an idea. What about using a aluminum softball bat or aluminum pipe/large conduit to make a hollow neck?

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 25, 2018 at 1:15pm

Ha ha Craig, always thinking outside the "box" .

I'm not sure of what gains would be made for the effort involved, unless you welded it to an aluminium saucepan Ha Ha.

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 25, 2018 at 1:16pm

Thanks Jim and Gary.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 25, 2018 at 9:12pm

That's me, weird thoughts. ;)

You could cut the end off and stuff a block of wood at the end and mount it to a body with screws.

Drill holes through - crossways for acoustic effect. Would need to make the guitar headless and attach a fretboard and nut with a curved base. Tuners behind the bridge. Aluminum gets used a lot on Lap Steel and Pedal Steel guitars.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 25, 2018 at 2:20pm

That's a worthy experiment Paul. I've used PVC pipe for hollow necks before with mixed results.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 25, 2018 at 9:16pm

I recently made a Baritone 3 string out of PVC for the plumbers challenge. It was low in acoustical volume, just not enough vibration through the PVC. Aluminum might fair better, but the small diameter "pipe" could have a low volume output as well. That's why they make Piezo's. Haha