I did it! I made a Hammered Dulcimer.

Thanks everyone! CC - I have no clue what a delrod even is, but will share with you that we are taking it to a folk instrument store/repair shop to have some professionals help us re-string it. I'll bet this doesn't surprise you. I came close, but there are apparently a lot of tricks and techniques to stringing an instrument which will make it better. (I've never had nor worked with a stringed instrument before). They'll help with bridge placement too. I'll ask them about the "delrods".

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That's a good idea to have someone look at it. Make sure that it is a store that has worked with hammered dulcimers before, though. Lots of "folk" music stores have no clue how they are strung or tuned. I was surprised. A lot of stores "assume" that if the first note is a C#, for instance, that it just goes up the scale from there. Not so. And with nearly 2 ton of pressure on the sound board from all those strings, if you incorrectly tune several of them, or don't have the correct gauge wire on it, you can blow up the top. Seriously!!!! LOL. You might be better off to find a luthier that builds them to assist you. If you pm me your address, I might be able to direct you to someone in your area.

If you bought it as a kit, though, I would guess that they gave you the correct gauge wires.

It's VERY tricky to string up a new instrument. If the bridges aren't exactly right, it won't tune correctly across the bridge. As you already know, hitting the string on the left side of the bridge gives you a different tone than the exact same string on the right side of the bridge. Your dulcimer is probably supposed to be "5th" tuned, which means the notes are a fifth apart across the bridge. For instance, it looks like that is a 13/12 or 12/12 size, so your bottom note should be a C# on the right side of the treble (center) bridge. The next note up on the right side of that bridge should be a "D" (to start your D scale) and the same string on the left side of that bridge will be an "A".

Every 4th string starts a new course, and usually they are marked by a different color of delrod (the plastic rod that you have sitting on top of your bridge to hold the strings up). Those markings give you a visual clue as to where your notes are on the dulcimer. On that size, you should have markers at "D", "G", "C" on the treble bridge (which tells you which key you are in, too). So your delrod would be (for instance) black for the C#, white for the D, then continue up with 2 blacks, 1 white, 2 blacks, 1 white, etc. to the top of the dulcimer. The bass side is the same, except it would start with a white because it starts on a scale root (G). Did your plans come with a tuning chart?

If you want to try aligning the bridges better, temporarily mark on your bridges (sticky notes) your main courses on the right side of the treble bridge (D, G, C) and the corresponding notes for the left side of the bridge (A, D, G). Then put just those strings on and nudge the bridge left or right (and it will be angled, too), until those 6 markers play the correct notes. Then fill in with the remaining strings. Make sure you are using a good chromatic tuner! <grin>

Sounds WAY more confusing than it really is. The hammered dulcimer, I think, is one of the easiest instruments in the world to play because of the way the scales and keys are laid out.

You'll LOVE it when you get it tuned just perfectly. There isn't a more fun instrument in the world to play. It plays "church music" so majestically and sweet, but you can also pound the crap out of it and get rowdy bluegrass or old-timey string music! Depends on your mood! LOL.

PM me if you need a tuning chart or anything. Sorry for the length of this post! I get excited about dulcimers...can you tell????

That is beautiful! I am also curious as to how you have it tuned, since the patterns of the delrin rod normally give you an indication of the tuning. If it is a standard tuned dulcimer, you would normally have a white piece of delrin and then two blacks (or vice versa) and would look similar to the 12/11 dulcimer on this page: http://ronewingdulcimers.com/hammer_dulcimer.htm .

If it is piano tuned or a linear chromatic, the delrin arrangement would be a little different, but if you've had this kit sitting around a while it's very unlikely that your dulcimer is designed for one of those tunings.

Since you're listed in Washington (I'm assuming state) and if you're anywhere near Seattle, you might want to bring it by Dusty Strings, or to Rick Fogel http://whamdiddle.com/ Both of them make dulcimers and can help you out with the tuning.

Like CC-rider said, make sure the store you go to really knows about dulcimers. Most of our local music shops send people to myself or some of our other local dulcimer players as they realize they don't really know enough to help with much more than changing strings.

One warning, they are habit forming and you can acquire a condition we call "dulcimer acquisition disease". I currently have 3 hammered dulcimers (a Jerry Reed Smith concert Grande which is my main instrument, a Songbird 17/16/8 which is my backup and bad weather instrument, and a Dusty strings piano dulcimer - which I haven't had time to learn yet). I also have an extensive collection of hammers, several of them broken. The quest for the perfect hammer is ongoing, although I have several of Bob Bedards which are my favorite.

Here are some tuning charts, you'll want to use the one for the 12/11, which is the size of your dulcimer. http://www.jamesjonesinstruments.com...ingcharts.html

Dawn, www.dawndulcimer.com

Thanks for posting this. I love the birdies you wood burned on the face of the dulcimer. My kids both made plain dulcimers in art class, yours looks very special. I also like the sound of them.

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Absolutely stunning!! Well done!!