Your mountain dulcimer is a musical instrument, not a battleship. It is basically a very thin box (1/10" - 1/8") with a strings attached at great tension.
- Avoid extremes in temperature. Your dulcimer is made of wood, and wood responds to both temperature and humidity change by expanding and shrinking. Never leave your dulcimer inside a hot car, or exposed to direct sunlight. Your dulcimer is glued together with glues that will weaken and come unglued at high temperatures. Your dulcimer, being made of thin wood, will also warp, shrink and possibly crack. Cold temperatures are a little more forgiving. In that case, just gradually warm the instrument up. For example, when coming in from the cold, leave your instrument in the case for an hour while it gradually warms up to room temperature before taking it out and playing it. A general rule is to never leave your dulcimer where you wouldn't leave a baby (i.e. in a hot car, on top of a furnace, or out in the noon-day sun).
- Don't sit on your dulcimer. Remember when I said your dulcimer is made of thin wood? While you know not to use your dulcimer as a weapon, did you know that a common mistake is for players to lean on their dulcimer while resting between tunes? Here's what they do. They have their dulcimer in their lap. They're tired, so then prop their elbows or fold their arms on top of their dulcimer and well, rest on dulcimer. Ooops. Your dulcimer is strung with 4 metal strings at very high tension. I don't know the lbs per sq inch, but I've heard people talk about 50 pound range! So, imagine you already have a 50 pound weight sitting on the top of your dulcimer, which you recall is a thin box, you don't want to add to it one bit.
- Proper way to pick up your dulcimer. Always handle the dulcimer by picking up the scroll or peghead. This is the place where the tuning pegs are and the strings are attached. Do not just grab the fretboard and start swinging your dulcimer around. The reason is that in order to make the instrument responsive, the fretboard is not attached directly to the blocks (these are the structural elements inside your dulcimer that you can't see, one where the scroll is built from and the other at the tail end where the strap button is). Instead the fretboard is glued onto that nice THIN 1/10" to 1/8" top, and the top is glued onto the nice THIN 1/10" to 1/8" sides. The better makers make the top/fretboard combination as "free" from the blocks as possible. For example, some makers separate fretboad from the scroll with a slit about the thickness of a credit card to increase resonance of the fretboard/top, by not impeding it with the heavy scroll (I do this). Most makers have a channel hollowed out in the inside of the fretboard (you can't see it), but this decreases wood mass on the fretboard so it is not as thick and solid as you think it is! (I do this also). Finally, some makers extend the channel all the way across down the centerline, so there is a small gap underneath the fretboard that is not glued to the top. You will not see this easily on the scroll side, and some cover it on the tail side with an end-cap or shim (I don't do this, I stop my hollowing before the ends of the fretboard and strum hollow).
- Check your strap and strap button. Nothing is more sickening than the sound of a dulcimer hitting concrete or bouncing off the stage. Always make sure that your strap is securely affixed to the button, and tied around your scroll with double knots. Also, don't leave your dulcimer on top of your car while packing the trunk. Nothing is more heartstopping than to see your precious instrument flying onto the freeway in your rearview mirror. Also, don't leave your dulcimer on the driveway behind your trunk. Always put instruments on the side of the car when packing, like right in front and parallel to the driver's door.
- Check Nut/Bridge is secure when changing strings. This rule is specific to my dulcimers. I don't like to glue my nut and bridge to the instrument, and instead it is held down by string tension. The reason is that players like to tweak and change their own nuts and bridges to their own specifications or replace them with different material to get a different sound. Very simply, when you loosen the strings or change strings, make sure to snugly fit the nut back up against the fretboard when you re-tighten them. This is because I do include a credit card sized gap between the fretboard and scroll. Hey, this is a feature not a bug! The bridge is a bit snugly tucked into the slot and harder to move, but it is not glued down, so no need to mess with solvents and cursing.
- The Varnish. My dulcimers are finished with Waterlox, a tung oil varnish blend over a dewaxed shellac base coat. Waterlox is easy to clean, in fact, they use it on floors! So just wipe off your dulcimer with a soft damp cloth. Waterlox is also easily touched up. For example, if you dent your dulcimer and take off a slight bit of varnish. You can lightly dampen a lint free cloth with fresh Waterlox and wipe a thin layer onto that area. The reason I say fresh is that Waterlox will gel up if sitting on the shelf too long after opening, and that gel will not wipe well, but glob up. I don't recommend it as practical to do this touch up, because a quart of Waterlox is around $30, so just chalk up any dings and scratches to badges of honour. Do not polish with furniture polish. Yuck. They leave an unsightly layer of gunk and will only cause you to accumulate more dirt and grime. Did you ever wonder why? So you can keep buying furniture polish, of course! If you MUST wax, then use a good quality wax like Howard Feed-N-Wax. But then, don't ever try to apply Waterlox on top of wax. So my rule of thumb is don't wax. You may oil your fretboard with walnut oil or bore oil or fretboard oil if you choose. Wipe off excess, and make sure the oil is pure (no additives that might gum up your fretboard).
- The Strings. I recommend the following string gauges: 24 Gauge Wound Phosphor Bronze for the bass D string, 14 Gauge Steel strings for the middle A, and 12 gauge steel strings for the double melody strings. This is the configuration for the common DAD tuning. Other combinations are 22 gauge wound for D, 12 gauge steel strings for the rest of the 3 strings tuned to A for DAA tuning. You don't need to buy Dulcimer string sets. Go to any music shop and ask for loop end strings with these specifications. Make sure they are not Mandolin strings (those are too short), but calculate you'll need about 8 inches longer than your VSL (distance from nut to bridge). 36" will be safe for most dulcimers. My dulcimers have VSL around 26". Banjo or guitar strings will fit the bill, just make sure to ask for loop end to go over the string pins or nails. Change strings every few months if you play a lot.
That's about it. Enjoy your dulcimer, join a club, and jam. Some fun places on the Internet to hang out are.
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