Hammer Dulcimer - finally restrung

I've restrung the hammer dulcimer my wife and daughter bought at the antique store some time ago. It was a battle. In this recording the dulcimer was tuned by ear.

Download
http://micro.soonlabel.com/hammer_dulcimer/20110514_dulcimer.mp3

Online play, picture and information here:
http://chrisvaisvil.com/?p=859

Line up:

2 tracks (right and left) of hammer dulcimer, fretless bass, and cameo appearances for both fretless guitar and electric psaltery.

Hey Chris, just seeing this now. Cool track, I really like the playing style of a hammered dulcimer: percussive, rhythmic, and sustained.

I recently drew up some concept designs for a wicki hammered dulcimer, I'll try to link to it but it's in the photos section of this group if I don't do it right:
/makemicromusic/photos/album/1173768097/pic/1274850360/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Notice that if you tilt it right it's right handed wicki, and if you tilt it left it's left handed wicki. It could to tuned to any regularly mapped tuning too, just by adjusting the string lengths accordingly.

I have so many instrument ideas and just the summer to decide on one and try to build it, but I'm considering this one if hammer dulcimer hardware isn't too hard to deal with. What do you think?

-John

I'm not family with wiki-hayden anything.

But that never stopped me before.

I'd say the easiest way to do it is to:

1. use guitar strings
2. use zither pins for one side and then use a round head screw on the other
- put the guitar string through the center of its end ball to make a loop
and wrap around the screw to anchor it.
3. I'm pretty sure not just anything works for dulcimer hammers. They seem
to be weighted and balanced.
4. Go to a woodcraft shop and get good wood - that will save lots of
headaches and doesn't cost too much.

zither pins (28 cents apiece)
http://windworld.com/features/tools-resources/product-information/zither-pins/

zither pin wrench
http://windworld.com/products-page/hardware-for-acoustic/zither-pin-turning-wrench/

dulcimer hammers (I know there are more out there)
http://www.amazon.com/Roosebeck-Dulcimer-Hammers-Hearts-Lacewood/dp/B004C3WAI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305862342&sr=8-1

piezo pickup pre-assembled - I have one and like it. I used it for one
channel (the louder one) of my dulcimer improv
http://www.amazon.com/AXL-Acoustic-Guitar-Transducer-Pickup/dp/B002C741BI/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1305862431&sr=1-1

On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:39 PM, jlmoriart <JlMoriart@...> wrote:

>
>
> Hey Chris, just seeing this now. Cool track, I really like the playing
> style of a hammered dulcimer: percussive, rhythmic, and sustained.
>
> I recently drew up some concept designs for a wicki hammered dulcimer, I'll
> try to link to it but it's in the photos section of this group if I don't do
> it right:
>
> /makemicromusic/photos/album/1173768097/pic/1274850360/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc
>
> Notice that if you tilt it right it's right handed wicki, and if you tilt
> it left it's left handed wicki. It could to tuned to any regularly mapped
> tuning too, just by adjusting the string lengths accordingly.
>
> I have so many instrument ideas and just the summer to decide on one and
> try to build it, but I'm considering this one if hammer dulcimer hardware
> isn't too hard to deal with. What do you think?
>
> -John
>
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks for those links! They look very helpful. Seems like the tech side wouldn't be too bad if I went this route, unlike some of the tapping style concepts I've had which would require more hardware and more electronics than a piezo pickup too.
I'll post when I (make a decision and) start to make progress...

-John
--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> I'm not family with wiki-hayden anything.
>
> But that never stopped me before.
>
> I'd say the easiest way to do it is to:
>
> 1. use guitar strings
> 2. use zither pins for one side and then use a round head screw on the other
> - put the guitar string through the center of its end ball to make a loop
> and wrap around the screw to anchor it.
> 3. I'm pretty sure not just anything works for dulcimer hammers. They seem
> to be weighted and balanced.
> 4. Go to a woodcraft shop and get good wood - that will save lots of
> headaches and doesn't cost too much.
>
> zither pins (28 cents apiece)
> http://windworld.com/features/tools-resources/product-information/zither-pins/
>
> zither pin wrench
> http://windworld.com/products-page/hardware-for-acoustic/zither-pin-turning-wrench/
>
> dulcimer hammers (I know there are more out there)
> http://www.amazon.com/Roosebeck-Dulcimer-Hammers-Hearts-Lacewood/dp/B004C3WAI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305862342&sr=8-1
>
> piezo pickup pre-assembled - I have one and like it. I used it for one
> channel (the louder one) of my dulcimer improv
> http://www.amazon.com/AXL-Acoustic-Guitar-Transducer-Pickup/dp/B002C741BI/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1305862431&sr=1-1
>
>
> On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:39 PM, jlmoriart <JlMoriart@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hey Chris, just seeing this now. Cool track, I really like the playing
> > style of a hammered dulcimer: percussive, rhythmic, and sustained.
> >
> > I recently drew up some concept designs for a wicki hammered dulcimer, I'll
> > try to link to it but it's in the photos section of this group if I don't do
> > it right:
> >
> > /makemicromusic/photos/album/1173768097/pic/1274850360/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc
> >
> > Notice that if you tilt it right it's right handed wicki, and if you tilt
> > it left it's left handed wicki. It could to tuned to any regularly mapped
> > tuning too, just by adjusting the string lengths accordingly.
> >
> > I have so many instrument ideas and just the summer to decide on one and
> > try to build it, but I'm considering this one if hammer dulcimer hardware
> > isn't too hard to deal with. What do you think?
> >
> > -John
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>