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Comment by JUJU on April 15, 2009 at 5:04am

Thanks for the invite Randy
If i ever get around to building one i sure know where to come for some info
juju.

Comment by Doc Oakroot on April 14, 2009 at 2:53pm

Hey tiny,

JI works best when it is diatonic and what I meant by one key is that the dulcimer is diatonic. The JI notes are just better in tune within that one key than 12ET notes are, because the JI notes are fractions of the string and the 12ET notes are powers of the 12th root of 2 of the string.

The 12th root of 2 thing only works because it's (sometimes) close to the fractions your ear is actually listening for.

On a chromatic instrument, it makes a lot of sense to use 12ET... because every harmony in every key is only slightly out of tune. In JI, the harmonies that work are perfect... and all the diatonic harmonies work.

Comment by L.J. on April 14, 2009 at 9:58am

thanks for the invite. I will be buildin a dulci as soon as i start frettin something.

Comment by Doc Oakroot on April 14, 2009 at 9:14am

Or you can use just intonation (JI) - which is traditional and sounds better than just removing the sharps from chromatic frets. Basically JI uses perfect simple fractions of the string length (rather than powers of the 12th root of 2)

The weakness of JI is that it really only works well for one key - as you move away from the one key, it gets more and more out of tune... but a dulcimer is already limited to one key, so that weakness is irrelevant.

There's a pretty good JI calculator here:
http://doctoroakroot.com/tools/Just_Intonation_Fret_Calculator.xls . I say "pretty good" because I did this when I didn't entirely understand JI, so I'm not sure all the fractions are perfect.

Comment by jasus on April 14, 2009 at 7:49am

i dont know if any one has mentioned this but when i decided to build my dulci i had trouble finding info on how to fret it,,the most interesting and helpfull thing i found out was that it was exactly the same as a normal fret board but with the sharps taken away(like a piano with the black keys removed)so with an open tuning wat ever notes you play will sound ok coz there all in a scale..hope this at least helps someone..

Comment by Low Budget Luthier on April 14, 2009 at 4:35am

Thanks fer invite randy. i've been planning a couple dulcis for awhile so...here i go.....&-)

Comment by Roger Martin on April 14, 2009 at 2:47am

Thanks for inviting me to this part of CBG Nation.I hadnt even noticed it was here.
I Do have a suggestion that just might put help some folks that want to try their hand at making a dulcimer or strummer themselves, but are afraid they'll mess up their 1st build by making a bad mistake with cutting and installing the frets themselves.
Maybe some of the guys that have experience installing frets could make up a fret board with frets ,Sell it to the newby and then let the guy build the rest of the dulcimer by himself.
That way folks can get past the scary part and still get their own dulcimer built.
After they build their 1st one ,except for the fretting they'll feel more comfortable about building their next one all by themselves.
Just a thought that occured to me as I read posts from people. I got that feeling that they WANT to build, but are afraid of the fretboard.

Comment by Taz on April 14, 2009 at 12:05am

Randy ~
Bro Ya got my attention ~ still working on my first CBG ~ But this is cool looking - Having lived south of Birmingham I attended a few alternitive music festivals and dulcimers were a big part of it ...... So will keep checkin back to see what is going on . Ohh thanks for the invite.

Comment by smojo on April 13, 2009 at 11:37pm

Been wanting a dulcimer for a few years. Like to build an electric one too. I'm thinking of buying a kit to build an acoustic one then use the experience/knowledge to buiuld the solid version. Had difficulty finding any plans on the net but it looks like I found a good home to start here.

Comment by RayTheOtherRay on April 13, 2009 at 10:36pm

Thanks for the invitation, Randy! A couple of Christmases ago, I built a Tennessee Music Box for my wife as she was interested in dulcimers. Given my guitar bent, I went ahead and fully fretted it. For just something that I put together, it sounded decent. As it turns out, I made it too big as it was uncomfortable to sit on her lap. This past Christmas, I got a dulcimer for her, from Warren May, in Berea, KY. The man does beautiful work and I had fun talking with him. He sounded interested in seeing what I was doing with a cigar box for instruments. I haven't had the time to do anything else dulcimer, but have some ideas of where I'd like to go with one. I'm looking forward to more ideas. I'll try to post the picture of my first one when I figure out how to do it. I was unsuccessful over on Unusual Guitars in posting a photo. Thanks again! RayTheOtherRay <>/body>

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