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Hi. The noter is a piece of dowel that they have in long lengths at many builders merchants. It's about 8mm diameter. I cut 8cm lengths. They wear quite quickly so it's worth buying a meter or more and cutting a whole bunch of them.

Hi, I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band. I still have a Rob Ikes Wechter/Scheernorn, although it doesn't get played much at present. I know that most dobro players, me included, tune the b strings (3rd of the scale) a little flat of equal temperament to sweeten the tuning. This is effectively pushing the instrument into just intonation - and, as you say, the fret positions are just a guide. The exact pitch of individual notes are basically selected by the player (like on a violin) - so I expect that many of us play in just intonation without even realising we are doing so - particularly if we are mimicking a sung phrase.

Thank you. I think that just intonation is particularly interesting as it is the natural pitching that any maker of folk instruments, anywhere in the world, and at any point in history would have ended up. Only when instruments needed to modulate did the need for other temperaments arise.

They tend to adapt to other instruments to produce the most concordant sound. That means they tend towards just intonation intervals to other notes, when possible. Because it's hard to do by ear for scales, it's only approximate, of course. Similar things happen in choirs without accompanying instruments like in barbershop quartets.

Hi, The Nonsuch Dulcimer Club has uploaded to TH-cam a live seminar I did for them on the history and traditions of the mountain dulcimer last month: th-cam.com/video/GS9E0AsDf88/w-d-xo.html I'd love to see a photo of your 1880s dulcimer. Drop me a line at robin (at) dulcimers.co.uk

@@birdrockdulcimers my dulcimer used to have staple frets, but someone in time has replaced them to full frets. I got it for $50.00 at an antique store.

No it is not felt It is a piece of boot leather. I got some off cuts from a local shoe repair shop and made some picks from the pieces.

@@birdrockdulcimers i never heard about leather pick ! Thanks for the idea

No, it won't work perfectly on a dulcimer with the frets set for JI in Ionian. But mixolidian E,A,A and key of G D,d,d should be OK. It is just the minor keys where you'll have the most issues with intonation.

Hi Allen, Yes, I'm using the thick 'quill' end of a goose feather (or possibly a seagull feather I picked up on our local beach). Traditionally, the Kentucky and WV dulcimer players would have used this type of pick, or a swatch of wood os a similar size. The Virginia, MI and TN players would have tended to use the thin end of a goose feather to 'whip' across the strings. You will see some old dulcimers with strum hollows to accommodate using the thick of a feather end held vertically and others with no strum hollow that would have been played with the thin end of a feather whipped across the strings and held horizontally.

Hi Eric. It is a little complex to explain. Lets say we were tuned to DAA (D bass, A, middle, A melody). And lets concentrate just on the melody string for a moment. On a mountain dulcimer you would set the frets to start the major scale for the melody string at the 3rd fret. So from the 3rd fret your frets are placed do, re, mi, fa so la, ti, do and onward. The open melody string would sound the 5th of the scale (so), the first fret the 6th of the scale (la) and the second fret the 7th (ti). In just intonation the distance between the 5th and 6th notes of the scale is 182 cents. So the first fret is placed so that the melody string tuned to A would sound the B note 182 cents higher than the A. Now lets take the bass string tuned to D. On our dulcimer this string would normally act purely as a drone and never be fretted. However, if we do fret it at the first fret it will sound E at 182 cents above the D. But the note E on the melody string is played at the 4th fret, which, in just intonation is 204 cents above the D at the 3rd fret. So, if you set the frets on a mountain dulcimer in just intonation some of the bass string notes will not match the pitch of the melody string notes. This is why modern mountain dulcimers use equal temperament - every semitone is 100 cents apart - so the different strings will sound the same note at the appropriate fret. The advantage of just intonation is that the intervals are very natural when you play melody against drones - the note blends are perfect - a barbershop choir will sing in just intonation. The advantage of equal temperament is that you can play cords across the strings and it will sound OK (every note is just a little out of tune - but not enough to notice in a chord) - a piano is tuned to equal temperament. On the Heritage Dulcimer the first fret is in equal temperament but the rest in just intonation (or close to it).

Thanks Trevor.

what she is saying is that she can completely relax just by hearing the sound of your voice in this video.

Hi. A 1-5-5 tuning is one where the bass string is tuned to the root note of a scale and the middle and melody strings are tuned to the 5th note of the same scale. So DAA or CGG would both be examples of 1-5-5 tunings on mountain dulcimer.

Aaaaaah thank you@@birdrockdulcimers :)

I can't believe you commented on a video you posted in 2016! Kudos and thanks for this very informative video!

Hi Jay, Thanks for your comment, and a Happy Christmas! I'm very interested in temperament on Appalachian mountain dulcimers and fretted zithers from Europe so I try and keep an eye on this comment trail. The fretted zithers I make to play myself are set in just intonation and I've developed a new instrument for playing the old dance tunes and ballads from where I live in Wales. In the Welsh language the instrument is called a 'Bocs Can Idris' with a ^ over the letter a. It means 'Idris' Song Box'. Idris was a prince who fought a battle against the Irish on the slopes of the mountain above our valley. The instrument has two fretboards tuned a 4th apart and 7 sympathetic drones as well as 5 main drones. I have played a number of concerts with the instrument and was in our village's 12th century church playing for a Christmas concert on Sunday. Using just intonation for the fret pattern makes the melody sound very smooth against that collection of drones and means that notes like the 3rd and 6th of the scale blend without the need for chord changes.