Jump to content

Mountain Dulcimer - Lowering the Action


alahen

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Hope this is okay to post in here - couldn't find a dulcimer forum!

 

I recently acquired a mountain dulcimer and am quite enjoying playing it. I'm finding it surprisingly easy to play except that I'm sure the action on mine should be a fair bit lower. I have searched for advice on how to achieve this but am not finding anything too helpful.

 

Can anyone here offer advice on this? Is it as simple as sanding the bottom of the nut and saddle? How do I ensure that I keep the edge level?

 

Also, I have seen frequent references to the desired action height measured in 'nickels' and 'dimes'. As I'm in the UK, this doesn't help much!

 

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've thought about getting a mountain dulcimer several times. I've got a sister and a niece who both play one. The niece is pretty good......the sister, not so much. I think in the hands of a proficient player, a lot of good music can be made with a dulcimer, but most of the stuff I've seen on You Tube is pretty lame stuff. The trick is learning how to play chord melodies using your fingers instead of using a noter. When I see someone using a "stick" to play a dulcimer it just doesn't do much for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I built a mountain dulcimer as my very first build and have noodled around with it off and on with both fingers and a noter. As far as lowering the action, as long as you have removable saddle and nut I see no problem sanding the bottom just like you do with a guitar saddle. Here is the dulcimer

 

IMG_0182.jpg

 

and a woman from the Seattle area who is a truely wonderful player and instructor

 

http://heidimuller.com/

 

When I get home tonight I'll mic a nickel and a dime so you know how thick they are. Would you like that in angstroms, furlongs, micrometers or knots?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Freeman, I've never sanded a guitar saddle before so I'm a bit nervous about doing it on the dulcimer. Is there any special technique I should be aware of? All I intend doing is rubbing the bottom of it with some sandpaper! I'll obviously be careful about not taking it down too much but I'm especially concerned about not keeping it level, perhaps resulting in a nut/saddle that rocks. In a bad way I mean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Thanks for all the replies.


Freeman, I've never sanded a guitar saddle before so I'm a bit nervous about doing it on the dulcimer. Is there any special technique I should be aware of? All I intend doing is rubbing the bottom of it with some sandpaper! I'll obviously be careful about not taking it down too much but I'm especially concerned about not keeping it level, perhaps resulting in a nut/saddle that rocks. In a bad way I mean.

 

 

Assuming that your saddle drops into a slot like a guitar, you should be able to pull it out pretty easily (if you have to use pliers be very careful). A dulcimer saddle will be slotted on top - don't mess with that. What I do for a guitar is put a piece of 220 grit (medium fine) sandpaper on a flat surface with a block of wood or metal on it. Make a mark on the saddle with a pencil on how much you want to take off, place the saddle against the block and simply sand HALF way to the line (it is easier to take more off than to put it back). Put it back in and try it, the go half way to the line again until you are happy. The line will ensure that you are going evenly from one side to the other, the block ensures that you are at right angles.

 

As I recall my dulcimer, you want pretty much the same string height all along the fretboard (I'll measure mine tonight) - therefore you should do the same thing at the nut. Commonly nuts are glued in with just a spot of glue - you might have to give it a light tap with a hammer to loosen it (maybe from the side).

 

I'll look at mine tonight - I do know that it plays pretty well. I'll also take a look at a couple of lutherie forums that I frequent and see if there is any setup information.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

OK, my home made dulcimer which I built in the early 80's has right at 0..100" (2.60 mm) at the first fret and 1.25" (3.20 mm) at the 14th (last) fret. I don't know if this is right or wrong, but I am able to play both with a noter and by fretting with my fingers. Mine has glued in wooden nut - to lower at that end I would have to file the slots deeper. The saddle on mine is wood and just sits on a flat piece - you can move it back and forth to set the intonation. It has slots cut in it to set the spacing, but could be lowered by sanding the bottom. I don't know how "normal" this is, it was a cheap kit that I built many years ago.

 

An American dime is 0.046" (1.22 mm) thick, a nickel is 0.070" (1.78 mm), a penny is very close to the dime. Hope that helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

FK Where did you get the plans for the build?

 

 

Whoa, it was like, 1980 or so when I built it, a lot of memory cells have been fried since then. All I remember is that it was a kit - rather nice mahogany, sides were prebent but I had to shape the scroll head, miter the fretboard, etc. Probably very similar to this one

 

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Kits/Dulcimer_Kits/Dulcimer_Kit.html?tab=Details#details

 

If you go to the instruction tab you can download a pdf of the instructions. I also think that MIMF had some plans, but right now their plan center is shut down, and it wouldn't surprise me if GAL did also.

 

If you are really interested in just plans (not a kit) I can make some inquiries at the lutherie forums.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Okay, things didn't go too well!

 

The saddle must have been glued in so I tried gently pulling it out with pliers, only for the saddle to break in half. That was when I realised it is wood and not plastic! The result is that it is now lower than before but there are no longer any slots on the top which is a bit rough. I tightened the strings and so far it seems to play okay but I'm sure it's not good to leave it like that.

 

My next question is should I buy a new saddle? I presume they can be cut to size (?) but how would you get the slots in them and at the right spacing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

As they say, poop. I know this is water under the bridge, but if you go back a few posts I said the saddle should pull out easily. I also commented that my nut was glued in and would have to have the slots filed deeper.

 

OK, so if its wood and a clean break, glue it back together. Use an AR type glue (yellow, Titebond), make a little clamping caul to hold it in place and in alignment, apply light clamping pressure and you should be good. It should be also possible to glue it back with CA and finger pressure.

 

Replacing it will be a b***h - you will need to get the old one out and make a new one just like it. I seriously doubt that you can buy one unless this is a production instrument and you can contact the manufacture. For string spacing, use the old one as a guide, find some plans, ask at the dulcimer forum that Starrshine linked or ask me to measure mine. Remember too that dulcimers can be strung with three or four strings. I also looked at the StewMac kit - it looks like they provide identical bridge and nut and say not to glue them in. They might sell you just a saddle, but there is no way of knowing if it would fit.

 

So once you get it glued back on, the only way to lower the action is to file the slots deeper. This is more or less irreversible - its pretty hard to make them higher. I happen to have a set of gauged nut files that makes the slots the right size for the string but when I built mine it looks like I probably used a jeweler's triangular file.

 

Probably a good lesson that (1) we really need to think these things thru before we start, and (2) getting an opinion from someone on the internet who cant see your instrument might be a bad idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

And for Alahen, I want to say that I am really sorry about this. I hope that I didn't lead you into doing something that wasn't right (obviously I did) - I feel pretty bad about this. One of the big problems with giving advice without being able to see something is that you make a lot of assumptions and guesses - the saddle on mine is not glued on and the SM plans specifically say to not glue either the saddle or nut in place. 99 percent of guitars do not have them glue on either, of if so on a nut it is just with the tinyest drop to keep if from falling out when you change strings.

 

Anyway, a wood saddle should be repairable and should be as good as new. When you do start lowering the strings by cutting the slots more be really sure to measure, then measure again. I don't know the setup specs on a dulcimer (I remember that old trick of so many nickels or dimes - sounds like something from the Appalachian mountains) so you need to get more advice than just mine. I'm thinking that if you e-mailed Heidi Muller (the link in my first post) that she could help - she really knows these instruments and seemed very nice when I met her.

 

Good luck

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I feel a little bad too FK, should have been paying more attention to this thread! No, the bridge should not have been glued down! I built my MD too and I have no idea where the assembly plans went to, BUT, they are available as a pdf file here:

http://www.harpkit.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MK&Product_Code=tearkit&Category_Code=mdul

The bridge is simply a triangle piece of wood and should not be too hard to make. In fact it probably a good time to find a piece of bone or other material and make a better one. The instruction sheet will also tell you how to set up your MD. Hope this gets you past your crisis.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Hey, nobody should be feeling bad about this!

 

Firstly, it's not disastrous. I can still play the instrument fine, even though there are currently no slots on the saddle (the strings are just resting on top of the saddle and so far haven't moved out of place). I reckon I should be able to sand the top of it to smooth it down a bit and then make some new slots, using the top part which broke off as a guide for the spacing. I just haven't figured out yet what to use to make the slots - is it essential to use a triangular file? If that works okay, I might look at deepening the slots on the nut.

 

Secondly, it was my fault entirely. I assumed that the saddle was plastic (hadn't looked closely enough) and I assumed it would just slide out if I pulled it with the pliers. It hadn't occurred to me that it might just be a flimsy piece of wood that would crumble! To be honest, it's a fairly cheaply made instrument and probably isn't meant to be mucked about with in this way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...