The tailpieces are available from my website, You can of course make your own which I encourage and the original design is on my plans, still, it is sometimes good to have one to know how to make them!
; video series2 hour version!
I have now serialised the whole of the Stick Dulcimer DVD-ROM on my Blog, please subscribe to be updated and notified when new posts are released. The blog has all the notes about the videos in an accessible chronological format and can be searched as well. The plans are still available as a download as is the DVD complete version and I still have some spare brass tailpieces available.
The full series of 28 episodes(over 5 hours of video) is still available to view on youtube, this edited version was previously only on the DVD gives an overview to the process.( thanks to my Son Stephen for sorting through the 5 hours of video to edit this down!)
Plans are available to purchase and download here: (direct link!)
https://payhip.com/lyreshop
download includes videos of the series including the plans can be ordered for reference
Fitting a Pickup
This is one of my recent stick dulcimers, just a few detail changes that i thought I would share, first the zero fret that is a simple alternative to the standard nut and helps to set the action. Note I use a guitar fret at the zero position and banjo frets for the rest. The other change has been to slim down the bindings to 3.5mm, this still protects edges but gives a more delicate look. To fit a simple pickup and have binding was a problem for me, In theory you could screw the pickup and attach the piezo after construction but the soundhole is small and the room for doing this minimal, so i opted for making the stick dulcimer, routing the binding then removing the back, using the location pins to ensure it returns to the same place after fitting the tailpiece and soldering the pickup. I used an anderson tailpiece and drilled out the tailpiece bracket to 14mm to let it freely slide over it. The endblock was drilled out at 12mm and a thread cutter was used to match the anderson jack socket. I then tested the pickup and glued up the bindings after.
Making a Stick Dulcimer case With
a
number
of
these stick Dulcimers being made all around the globe I
thought it would be useful to show one way that I use to make a
simple
strong case, Hopefully this will inspire you to have a
go,
If you have just made a Stick Dulcimer this will be relatively
simple. Where I can I try to use shop bought timber
and the
Miller Dowel system to make my cases.
Click below to open and click again on the page to turn the slides of this presentation below:
Tailpiece
The pilot hole for the tailpiece needs to be small enough that the
screw does not move when tightened, but not too small that you crack
the endblock. 2mm seems to work on the hardwood I had but a smaller
hole might be more likely, so please test on a scrap piece. If you can, drill an smaller hole initially and then the hole size you need(avoids splitting the endblock inside) If you did
make the hole too large you would need to get a larger screw for the
endpin, maybe needing to enlarge the hole in the endpin.
The bridge:
The ebony/rosewood insert isn't necessary, though over time may prove
beneficial.
I will be using a plain
maple bridge during my setup.
The strings used for this tuning and this
scale was 10.14 and 23 wound strings, basic Stick Dulcimer strings that
you find on several models out there, this is quite low tension and
great for the neck with no truss rod, I have in the past tuned to G,
using thinner strings at a higher tension, one advantage of the Gdg
tuning is that you have no wound strings!! I measured the strings
lengths in the videos to show how I compensated the bridge, angling it.
It is a compromise as the Bass string is a touch sharp, but I find that
the middle string it more important to get perfecty in tune.
I didnt need to touch the fingerboard, In the past I have needed to
flatten the frets and crown them over again but recently I have been
simply pressing the frets in, filing the edges and finding that the
fingerboard was good to go, It may be that I am using the right fret
saw and the fret press now, though I hammered one fretboard by hand and
had the same result.
I add a few millimetres to the length to compensate.
The nut to bridge measurements after compensation:
D3 string 655.5mm
D4 string 654mm
Playing:
The strings are still settling in but I couldnt resist improvising and
having a good play. I havent played a stick Dulcimer for a year now and
I don't have anything new to play just yet, I will learn a couple of
pieces and do a tutorial for them when I can. The sound has its own
quality, you can get a breadth of expression from it,
I have used bone for this example that I bought back in 2003 at a pet
food shop that has lasted me years, you can but ready cut bone for nuts
and saddles that could be purchased, saving a lot of dusty smelly work.
Artificial nut material is available from luthier supplies.
My disk sander was used to rough out the shape along with my files and
sandpaper. Needle files were used to start the string grooves, although
I have a set of nut slot files I save for the final stages, you may
find that the miniature fine-tapered oval bottomed needle file may be
able to do all the work.
I had to really edit this episode down to fit it within the 10 minute
limit, so please feel free to ask anything. One note, I did also make a
wooden nut that I was going to use for this, I used boxwood, but ebony
or blackwood could also be used, this might be a great alternative. In
the end I think I felt that bone might just give a little more edge to
the sound than wood(all my stick dulcimers have had bone nuts, I had
only used wood ones on my crwths)
I used a forstner bit of 10mm to drill the holes. Great care is needed
here to align the holes and also in drilling. This is a pillar/bench
drill job.
