Purchase
Considerations
People buy a dulcimer for many different reasons. Some simply want a "wall Dulcimer" for decoration. Almost any dulcimer will do for that and more often than not, the buyer will be happy with a fairly historically accurate instrument. However, an incredible amount of music can be made on the mountain dulcimer and many hours of personal and group enjoyment can be had if you purchase a dulcimer that plays well.
How much of a slave you are to fashion and what your personal tastes are will influence the type of instrument that you will purchase, but if playing the instrument is your aim, it is here that you depart from historic accuracy. To make it easier for you to find specific information about what to look for when buying a dulcimer that you intend to play, I have put together some things to look for. These are observations that I have come by over my decade or so of playing with dulcimers and are not to be taken as the definitive word in dulcimer construction/design. To make finding specific information easier, I have created a table of contents. However, all the following information should be considered as a whole.
· The Fret Board
· The Tuning Head
· The Tuning Machines
· The Playing Action
· The Frets
· The Dulcimer Body
· Woods
· Prices
· Some Final Notes
1. The Fret Board: The fret board is the most important part of the instrument. It
should be made of quarter sawn material and be very straight (a slight concavity
may be accepted). The fret board should extend up to, or beyond, the fourteenth
fret and should include at least a six and a half and thirteenth and a half
fret. If it doesn't have these, you will drastically limit what you can play.
The most comfortable playing width for the fret board seems to be about one and
one half inches wide. Wider or more narrow and playing may be more difficult.
The string length will vary from builder to builder. String length does make a
difference musically but quality instruments can be found with both long and
short string scales. You should consider a shorter string length if you have
small hands or a little arthritis. Longer strings have more sustain, but you
trade off with having to stretch your hand more. String length will be a very
personal choice. You will find
a great many dulcimers built with approximately a 27” string length.
This is a wonderful compromise between having good sustain and being able
to make the necessary reaches. A
quality fret board will have an oil finish on it… not a surface finish like
varnish, shellac, or lacquer. Such
surface finishes will eventually be cut by your fingernails or just worn off and
finger oils will get into the woods, making the fret board look quite unsightly.
The oil finish will protect the fret board and can be easily touched up
as it wears.
2. The Tuning Head: The tuning head is the end of the instrument where the tuning devices are located, and in my mind is the second most important part of the instrument. Tuning problems have turned off many a would be dulcimer player. There are two basic styles of tuning heads, the "fiddle or scroll head," and the "flat head."
· The "fiddle head" can be ornate, or more likely an ultra simplified version of the tuning head found on most fiddles (or the lump found on most Shillelaghs). On these heads, the pegs usually stick out on both sides like they do on a fiddle. The strings necessarily go down into a hole running the length of this type of head. Usually these heads are set quite close to the dulcimer body. On such dulcimers, the two outer strings disappear into that hole at quite an angle from the nut. That sharp kink puts a lot of demands on the string there. It is an ideal place for the string to break. Changing strings on this type of head requires some dexterity and can be quite difficult.
·
The second type of head is the
"flat Head." This is more like the heads on most "
3. The Tuning Machines: The tuning machines are the devices that you actually turn to raise or lower the tone of a string. There are three basic types, the friction peg (or simple peg), the planetary machines, and guitar type machines.
· The friction type peg has no mechanical advantage between the "butterfly" that you twist with your fingers and the peg around which the string wound. A few builders still use the old wooden pegs, and some use the metal ones called "friction pegs." These can be used successfully, but many beginners have enormous trouble with them. The metal pegs need occasional adjustment, frequently without the player realizing it. For raising or lowering the tone of a sting just slightly, a fair amount of practice will be necessary to be able to do this with any ease, as they offer no mechanical advantage. Friction pegs are most often used with a very simplified "fiddle" tuning head and on less expensive instruments. Caveat: buy wooden pegs only if you are very familiar with them or want a "wall dulcimer."
· The second type, planetary tuners, look something like friction pegs except that they have a little bulge between the butterfly and the tuning head. This is to house the planetary gears. These usually have a four to one mechanical advantage. They are a great improvement over the friction pegs. Planetary tuners are most often found on "fiddle" type tuning heads. It might be suggested that they are used in an effort to emulate the old wooden pegs of days gone by. One usually finds them on very expensive instruments as they add quite a bit to the price of the instrument – but only offer a four to one mechanical advantage.
· The third type, guitar machines are most often found on "flat" head type tuning heads. Quality can vary on these, but even fairly cheap ones work quite well. These tuners utilize a worm gear and can have up to a sixteen-to-one mechanical advantage. That is, if you turn the butterfly one eight of a turn, the peg on which the string is wound will turn only 1/128th of a turn. That is a monumental aid in tuning. Many dulcimer enthusiasts do not like these tuners as they stray fairly far from tradition as far as looks are concerned, but you can't get more user friendly than this. Such tuners make changing stings a snap.
4. The Playing Action: The 'playing action' is the ease or comfort level of the dulcimer to the player. A number of factors come into play here, but most important is the height of the strings above the frets. At the first fret, the strings should be quite close to the fret. I usually set my strings so that a .50mm pick will just slide between the string and the fret. At the seventh fret, I use the ole nickel test. Just slip a nickel between the string and the seventh fret. It should touch both the string and the fret. If it does not touch both, the dulcimer will be hard to play.
5. The Frets: Take a close look at the frets. Are the tops of any of them very flat? Often times a builder will correct a poor fretting job by grinding all the frets level with one another. Large flat areas on several frets should make one to look very carefully over the entire dulcimer to see what else was not been done well. The ends of the frets should be quite smooth so as not to cause discomfort to the fingers when sliding up and down the fingerboard. You should fret and pluck each string on each fret and listen very carefully for any buzzing sounds. A fret higher than those around it can cause a buzzing, and it won't go away without corrective surgery. You usually don’t find this kind of problem passed the seventh fret.
6. The Dulcimer Body: The dulcimer body is where you will find the most variation. The body shape, depth, length, and wood types all affect the sound. Again, personal taste will influence what you want here, but there are some things to look for. Generally smaller bodies emphasizes the higher tones and larger ones the more bass notes. Your choice! An important aspect of the body, aside from dimensions, is simply how well it is made. Look at it. Is it rough or does it have the look of a very fine hand made piece of furniture (or better yet - a fine guitar or violin)? Look inside. If it is well made, it generally is well made inside as well. Check the finish. Be a little apprehensive of a dulcimer that has an oil finish. An oil finish won't hurt very hard woods much (won't do them much good either), but it can kill the resonating qualities of softwoods like spruce.
7. Woods: I could get
in deep trouble on this one, as many builders have their own personal philosophy
as far as what is good dulcimer construction. But I will offer some thoughts.
Some woods resonate better than others do. That's why you see the tops of most
of the finer instruments made of a different wood than the sides and back. The
top does most of the resonating. Spruce, Western Cedar, Butternut and woods of
this type make great tops. One does not want a very oily wood for a top. Cypress
looks like it might make a great top, but its resonating qualities can vary
considerably. Some
I personally prefer to use domestic woods, at least for the bulk of my instruments in deference to the instrument's domestic history, but I will also be the first to admit that I have strayed fairly far in my instrument design to enhance the instrument's musical qualities.
8. Prices: What is the price range of a good dulcimer? Probably the best answer is that you get what you pay for. I suppose you have heard that old saying, "Buy the most expensive instrument that you can for the beginner because it will be so much easier to learn on." That is very true. Good players can compensate for some design shortcomings, but the beginning player shouldn't have to contend with them.
It has been my experience that most fairly good dulcimers start around three hundred dollars and go up from there. Occasionally you may find a builder who is building for the fun of it and simply wants to cover his or her expenses, hence selling a good dulcimer for very little money, but most cheap dulcimers are - cheap! - Not worth the price at any price. Some dulcimers sport quite a bit of ornate work. I personally am in favor of decoration, but the buyer must realize that decoration doesn't add to the musical qualities, just price and personal satisfaction. I just wanted to point that out. Frankly, I believe that players fall in love with their instruments and it is much easier to fall in love with a very fine playing instrument that also looks good!
A WORD OF WARNING! - Many traditional music stores do not know a thing about the mysterious mountain dulcimer and often times will act as if they did. You may get a lot of bad information there.
9. Dulcimer Baggage: A lot of people forget that when they begin any new activity or sport there is baggage. You don't just purchase a dulcimer. You need some way to carry it about without its being its being damaged - a case of some sort. Get a good padded bag or case. Also, you will need a tote bag of some sort as eventually you will need some way of carrying all the music, music stand, tuners, capos, etc. that you will eventually want with you at all times. You will never get it all in the dulcimer bag.
Also, you will need some way to tune it. Many new dulcimer buyers balk at purchasing an electronic tuner. These tuners are little boxes about the size of a pack of Jell-O, operate on battery and range from less than twenty dollars to around a hundred dollars. Unless you have perfect pitch, or access to some other way to tune your instrument, please believe me, these tuners will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the dulcimer. You see, the dulcimer is a wooden instrument and as such it changes size and stresses with the temperature and humidity. That doesn't mean that it is a poor instrument. All wooden instruments have this problem. You will need to tune it fairly frequently. A good tuner is well worth it - particularly for the novice dulcimer player. There are two types of tuners. One has an internal mike than picks up the sound of the vibrating string. The other type picks up the vibrations coming from the body of the instrument. In my experience, I have found the type that picks up the body vibrations are extremely useful in crowded situation where there is a lot of other sounds. However, the more expensive types with a mike, in my opinion, are a bit more accurate. It is wise to eventually use the tuner as a tool, and yet perfect the art of tuning by ear.