Stick Dulcimer, Lighter machine heads

I really like Gotoh style sealed tuners on my instruments, the way they fit and work smoothly but with the stick dulcimer they add weight making the neck slightly top heavy. To make allowance for this  I usually add weight in the tail piece which is 2mm solid brass and by leaving the internal linings square and the tail block a hardwood.

For my new basic Stick Dulcimer (made completely from mahogany)  I decided to try the Klusion style of tuners. Mine were the Wilkinson brand which are easily available.

To see how much weight could be saved I weighted each type of tuner.

The Klusion type was 23 grams

The gotoh mini type was 34 grams

The saving in weight for all three by switching was 33 grams between them

With them fitted the mahogany instrument did feel better balanced without the strap,  the spacing is closer than I fit on the other type and they are nearer the end but look fine.

Fitting these was a little more complicated and required buying drill bits.  Stew mac sell reamers for this type of machine head to make this easier that I may get if decide to switch.

Video soon!

                              Plans available for these instruments available from my website