Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mad Mike's CBG's on January 10, 2011 at 3:59am

Is there anyone here who can give me a place to find fingerboard template for my dulcimer?

Permalink Reply by Robert Sears on March 20, 2011 at 11:32am

Hi all.  Been building dulcimers about 35 yrs. Build a more traditional shape, elleptical which is far older than the hour glass,though I do build any shape if someone wants it.Have a web site at annsartannex.com. Back when I started everyone tuned Gccc low to high. Have a class tomorrow at the college to teach dulcimer history and trad style playing, now called noter and drone. Do not want to be critical but DAc is aeolian tuning. Gets real confusing so most players just say DAd or whatever.

Permalink Reply by Robert Sears on March 20, 2011 at 11:34am

try WFRET and tell it the scale length then use the frets suggested earlier on this discussion.

Rusty Shackleford ( Mike ) said:

Is there anyone here who can give me a place to find fingerboard template for my dulcimer?

Permalink Reply by Mal Chilvers on May 14, 2011 at 10:20am

Hi Guys

You will think I'm a bit thick,as I understand it you use 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12 frets from the normal guitar fret board but this leavs you 4 frets short on your picking stick fret board and what is a blues-cimer Mal

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on May 14, 2011 at 11:33am

Yes, you don't need those frets.  Keep the spacing the same and just leave off the 1, 3, etc.  The "12th" fret is in the same place as it would be on a regular chromatic fingerboard, only now it is #7 if you are counting from the  bridge.

Permalink Reply by Mal Chilvers on May 14, 2011 at 3:47pm

Yes I understand that Diane but after you use 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12 you are frets short after you have used those ,when you are fitting frets going to wards the bridge.just say a normal guitar goes up to 19 frets, which frets do you use from those to finish the fretting on a strum stick'.

What is a Blues-Cimer??  Mal

 

Permalink Reply by Dirty Dan Peel on May 15, 2011 at 4:57pm

Lately I've growing more and more interested in one of these insturments, but had always wondered about the fret placement. This pretty much answered all my questions. Thanks

Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on May 16, 2011 at 1:11am

Octave 1: 0 2 4 5 7 9 10 11 12

Octave 2: 12, 14, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24

Octave 3: 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36

 

And by then you've pretty much arrived at the bridge!

 

A blues-cimer, or blues-stick plays only the blues. Wichita Sam made a vid of one, you'd have to search his vids.  Mine are all gone.  It uses the traditional blues scale on a guitar.  A much different sound, and just as fun to play.

Permalink Reply by Mal Chilvers on May 26, 2011 at 2:14pm

Hi, As a beginner I would just like to get the blues scale right and ask if this is right

0-3-5-7-10-12-15-20-22-25-27. I do realise to the experianced builder it seem easy but to an old begginer like my self it can be a little confusing Mal  (UK)

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on May 26, 2011 at 2:59pm

Hi Mal.

 

The first octave of the blues scale is 0-3-5-7-10-12 with an optional fret 6 (as recommended by Tres Seaver in this thread about the blues-cimer scale originally posted by 'Diane in Chicago' ). To get the second octave, just add 12 to each fret number of the first octave. This yeilds: 12-15-17-19-22-24 with an optional fret 18. So, for the complete 2 octaves, you will use frets 0-3-5-6-7-10-12-15-17-18-19-22-24 from the set of frets used in the standard chromatic guitar. Be aware that you don't have to implement fret 0 if you are already using a nut. Here fret 0 is used to indicate that the open string is also a member of the set of notes/frets used in the blues scale.

 

Also, if you are building one of these and want to implement the full two octaves, you will likely need a long neck (scale length) so the space between the frets way up the neck are usable, and you may need to use a short box (or turn the box 90 degrees) to maximize neck space for your blues scale fretboard.

 

-Rand.

 

 

.

Permalink Reply by Mal Chilvers on May 26, 2011 at 6:57pm

Hi Rand

Rand Moore said:

Hi Mal.I would like to use a 24 1/2" scale length will this be long enough or do I need to use the two full octaves

 

The first octave of the blues scale is 0-3-5-7-10-12 with an optional fret 6 (as recommended by Tres Seaver in this thread about the blues-cimer scale originally posted by 'Diane in Chicago' ). To get the second octave, just add 12 to each fret number of the first octave. This yeilds: 12-15-17-19-22-24 with an optional fret 18. So, for the complete 2 octaves, you will use frets 0-3-5-6-7-10-12-15-17-18-19-22-24 from the set of frets used in the standard chromatic guitar. Be aware that you don't have to implement fret 0 if you are already using a nut. Here fret 0 is used to indicate that the open string is also a member of the set of notes/frets used in the blues scale.

 

Also, if you are building one of these and want to implement the full two octaves, you will likely need a long neck (scale length) so the space between the frets way up the neck are usable, and you may need to use a short box (or turn the box 90 degrees) to maximize neck space for your blues scale fretboard.

 

-Rand.

 

 

.

Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on May 26, 2011 at 9:26pm

Hi Mal,

 

I think an octave and a half would be plenty, and it would make it easier to construct an instrument around. To get a better picture, you could use a fret calculator to see how many frets you can go before the fret-to-fret distance gets too narrow. I've done this for you already, and here's my results:

Assuming you can find a 9" long cigar box, you can put frets 0 thru 17 on the neck. If you extend the fretboard over the sound box by maybe 1.5", you should be able to put frets 18 and 19 on your fretboard without too much trouble. The fret-to-fret distance at fret 19 is just a tad under 0.5", so I'd go for it.

 

So, in summary, try using guitar frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 18 and 19 to implement your blues scale. You should be able to do it on a 9" long cigar box and 16.5" long fretboard that overlaps the sound box by roughly 1.5". Hope this helps.

 

-Rand.

 

 

 

 

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