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How do you intend to string it? What pitches are you going for, and what's your scale length? On my six-string church dulcimer, I use wound strings on the two low notes. I forgot offhand what gauges they are, but I could look that up for you.

It will be an octave lower than a "normal" dulcimer. DDAD an octave down.

I've got the string gauges somewhere -- the lower ones are definitely wound. I think the scale length is going to be around 28"; I've been playing around with that a bit. Basically it's going to generally follow the design of this one http://www.bluelioninstruments.com/dulc ... s/bass.htm but of course I can't simply copy it without doing my best to mess it up somehow <grin>.

What are the six strings on yours tuned to?

I tried bending a couple of test strips for sides to see if things would work as I planned, and they pretty much did.

In the foreground you can see the test side strips in the mold. The headstock and tail block fit between the sides. The sides need to be trimmed to length at the tail block end, of course.

In the background you can see the top, the real sides, the strip that will be the base for the fretbloard, and the four Waverly planetary banjo tuners, all sitting on top of the case.

MaineGeezer wrote:
What are the six strings on yours tuned to?

From low to high, it's:

G2 0.044" wound
D2 0.024" wound
G3 0.018" plain
D3 0.011" plain
D3 0.011" plain
D3 0.011" plain

The last two are strung very close together, to be played as a single course.

This isn't anything much like standard dulcimer tuning, but now that I've learned it, I'm probably not going to change it. As for the string gauges, they could probably be fudged a bit in either direction.

Here is a shot of my high-tech bending setup: a piece of aluminum pipe held onto a cement block with a C-clamp, with a propane torch going through it. It works. It was really cheap. One can do better.

I can't begin to tell you how much easier it is to build something with a flat back and parallel sides vs. something with a radius!

Anyway, I've got the back glued on and trimmed. As you can see, I'm going for lightweight minimalist bracing. The two braces on the back are strips left over from the top, 1/8" or a bit less thick, 1/2" or a bit less tall, tapered to a sharp edge on top.

The reinforcing strip down the center seam is made from strips cut off a scrap of cedar clapboard, thinned down. I'm scavenging a bit on this build!

Now that the kerfing is glued on, the big spreader made from the mold cutout no longer fits. I had to go to the "normal" kind of spreader when I glued the back on. For the top, I guess I can't use any spreaders because there would be no way to get them out. With the back in place though, I think it will hold its shape adequately.

Next is either the binding on the back, or figuring out what I'm going to do for top cutouts.

Wow, it's really coming together Steve! the headstock worked out great.

I want to do something to reinforce the top where the cutouts will be. What I'm doing is applying cloth patches soaked in hot hide glue to the back side of the top where the cutouts will be. I hope this works.

Due to a deficiency in imagination, or something, I'm copying hole design used by Blue Lion on their bass dulcimer.

I closed it up today. I did things in the wrong order. I put the back on first, which meant I had to put the fingerboard on the top before i installed the top. Otherwise, I couldn't clamp it without pressing on the top. With the fingerboard in place it interferes with using a router to cut the binding channel for the top. I'll try a Dremel tool, which has a much smaller base than my router.

What I should have done is install the plain top first, then done the binding for the top, then glued on the fingerboard, clamping through the open back, then installed the back, then bound the back. But I didn't. Time to practice my skills with a gramil!

Here's a photo of the current state. Note that the top isn't bound yet!

The sound is excellent, especially if nothing touches the back. Resting the dulcimer on one's knees decreases the volume very noticeably.

Oh jeez, that looks great! I would love to hear a sample.