Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on January 19, 2016 at 3:56am

It totally depends on what sound you hope to get Pete,for a solid i'd recommend a magnetic p/up,and also i'd be inclined to make any cut out for it capable of accepting different types/shapes of pick up so you can change if you want to,that may mean a bigger cut out with a nice cover plate,as for the wiring etc,i'll try to attach Ted Crocker's diagrams,they cover a few variables.   http://handmademusicclubhouse.com/photo/albums/wiring-diagrams-sche...

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Permalink Reply by Pete Staehling on January 23, 2016 at 1:35pm

I set up the prototype with an "Electric Delta" 3-pole Cigar Box Guitar Pickup from cbgitty.  It sounds way more like a stratocaster than a dulcimer.  I guess that shouldn't be a huge surprise, but it was more so than I had guessed.  It sounds kind of cool, but not dulcimer like at all.

I may try an under bridge piezo rod.  What kind of sound should I expect with that on a solid body 19" VSL dulcimer?

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 24, 2016 at 2:40am

To get that characteristic dulcimer sound, you need double course trebles on it to give it that "chime", a single treble just won't cut it.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Staehling on January 24, 2016 at 3:02am

Is that comment specific to electrics?  If not I doubt it, since almost all of the older dulcimers used three single strings and even today a large percentage of instruments do likewise.  I sell more three string acoustic dulcimers than 4 string ones with the doubled melody string.  They all sound like dulcimers.

I'd expect a double string on my solid body prototype with magnetic pickup to still sound like a guitar, just a 12 string one.  Am I missing something here?

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on January 24, 2016 at 3:14am

For what it's worth,i've made 2 or 3 'dulcimers' with mag pups and solid bodies,and they sound like electric guitars with a few frets missing

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 19, 2016 at 4:00am

How big a dulci are you talking? How many courses? Thing with a solid body is that you may instead want to do a series of Hot Rail-style mag pups for better output. But you can definitely do one or more piezos; I'd attach directly to the soundboard.

Some resources for electric solid body dulcimers:

http://michael.futreal.com/dulcimer

http://everythingdulcimer.com/discuss//viewtopic.php?f=27&t=30641

http://theguitarsherpa.com/directory/dulcimers

Michael Futreal's band:

http://www.twangdarkly.com/2013/09/twang-r-electric-chromatic-dulci...

http://www.blackmtninstruments.com/product5.html

http://gibsondulcimers.com/Dulcimer%20peizo_pickups.htm

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Permalink Reply by Pete Staehling on January 19, 2016 at 4:45am

My dulcimers are mostly smaller travel sized instruments and this specific request is for a 19" vsl (the same size as the acoustic that I sold her a while ago).

I took a quick look, but I'll have to dig through the links from you guys in more detail.

The Ron Gibson link gives me the impression that piezo disks or under bridge rods may be less suitable for a solid body since the body is not vibrating to the extent a acoustic instrument would.

On the other hand the customer owns and is used to a Risa solid body ukulele which apparently has a piezo pickup (in/under the bridge?).  I figure that if I could duplicate the electrics in the Risa it would be somewhat like something she is already accustomed to and therefore likely to be acceptable to her.

Edit: Forgot to say... Three singles strings on this one.

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on January 19, 2016 at 5:57am

Pete,the rods aren't anywhere near as dependent on soundboard vibration as a disc,they are sort of between the disc and a mag p/up in function as they react to the strings almost directly,the reason i initially suggested a mag was more to do with compatability with amplification without the need for pre amping

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 19, 2016 at 3:43pm

Doh! Dunno why, but when I read dulcimer, I was thinking "hammered!"

Basically, with a solid body dulci, you're building the same thing as a lap steel, but with dulcimer tuning / frets, yes?

If you go piezo rod under the bridge, you'd need, as Darryl alludes to, a pre amp for amplification. It'd be just like my Travler electric travel guitar ( which, btw, also has a blade style mag pup across the strings. That's why I suggested it.

But Iwas really hoping to see how many mag pups you needed to string together to amplify a solid body hammered dulcimer :-)

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Permalink Reply by Pete Staehling on January 19, 2016 at 4:09pm

Yes.  Pretty much like a lap steel with dulcimer frets and tuning.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on January 19, 2016 at 6:22am

If she's asked for a solid body electric, then presumably she'll be expecting an electric pickup, not a piezo. If someone asks me to build a solid body electric instrument, one of the first things I discuss is what type of pickup they want - single coil, humbucker etc. Talk to your customer, ask her what she wants.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Staehling on January 19, 2016 at 8:17am

I exchanged a few emails and she really doesn't seem to know what she wants.  I think the main reason for the solid body is that she is shy about playing around other people, so she plays with earbuds.

Any way, I ordered a 3 pole single coil pickup to play with on the first prototype.

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