Fast pickers and classical guitarists often set their string height lower than average to increase speed. and it's asking for the string length in order to calculate the fret spacing. Posted by Keith Duncan on September 3, 2011 at 3:04am in Clubhouse Forum; View Discussions Hello all; i have a question in regards to fret spacing on a mountain dulcimer. I get the spacing from an online fret calculator. Every Gibson Dulcimer Features: Handcrafted from top quality 100% solid tonewoods with no veneer, plywood or plastic parts. The only "plan" you need is the correct fret spacing for the VSL that you choose. The frets marked with a double X (XX) are optional - if included, this fret will give you the "6.5" dulcimer fret, sometimes also known as the "blue note". There are many out there for free just google it. Diatonic (Dulcimer-Style) Fretting – What it is, How and Why to Use It Deciding whether to fret your cigar box guitar 6 thoughts on “Fret Spacing Calculator Tool for Cigar Box Guitars & More” The author of the book is the owner of Folkcraft Instruments, one of the oldest dulcimer-building companies in the world. Check out the 70-song Dulcimer Songbook. For makers of diatonic instruments (especially mountain dulcimers), these reside at all the "extra fret" positions, to keep the guess-work out of using adding extra frets to diatonic scale pattern. Chromatic fret spacing on drone strings. From there, click on the "calculate" button and the fret slot measurements will be displayed. Fret Spacing. The combination of the 1/2 fret and 1 1/2 fret adds a lot of musical possibility to the lower position on the dulcimer fingerboard. Route the bottom of the body neck with a 1/2” round-over bit, such that A – Dulcimer Tabs / Dulcimer Sheet Music / Dulcimer Music / Dulcimer Songs. Saved by Vaughn Cronin This relation between frets and modes is all about fret spacing. Put the SOUNDBOARD on your work table with the good side facing up. Draw a centerline down the length of it. It models the entire fretboard, strings and frets, as a system of line segments on a two dimensional plane. Mark the fret locations on the fretboard, and cut the fret slots. Options. This page accurately calculates the position of the fret slots for guitars and basses. Exact dulcimer sizes varied in terms of length, width and even height. jcrmusic diatonic , Just Intonation , music theory Leave a comment January 16, 2016 January 16, 2016 1 Minute Because the Appalachian dulcimer has a diatonic fretboard (ignoring the chromatic 6+ fret for now), every starting fret has a characteristic pattern of long and short spaces continuing down the fretboard towards the bridge. You can use one of the many fret location calculators available online; the distance between the nut and the bridge is 26”. If you can copy the shape (if that's what appeals to you, then making a "stick instrument" (NOT a dulcimer) like it is fairly simple if you have a handful of tools and some experience building folk instruments. If you have this fret spacing and wish to play Ionian mode (from fret 3) the ratios are wrong. Bear Meadow Custom Fret Template. Full two octave fretboard with 16 nickel silver frets including a 6½ and 13½ fret. CARE AND USAGE: There may be minor clouding or cutting stains on the surface of the plastic, left over from the laser cutting process, which can be wiped off with a paper towel. However, certain instrument have quite idiosyncratic designs; for example the banjo's short 5th string, or the dulcimer's full length neck and diatonic fretting. There are five different options for scale length. Please not that the type of instrument has no baring on the fret spacing. "Before working on any vintage guitar, I always check fret accuracy with these rules. Dulcimer that often shares the same “Dad”tuning, you need to remember that the Tabs and Chords for these are reversed and will need rewriting out again, this is a useful exercise when learning new pieces on any instrument anyway! People made them with whatever local materials that were readily available to them and traced the shapes that were pleasing to them. The Appalachian mountain dulcimer is an American folk instrument and comes in all sizes and shapes: from a rectangular Tennessee music box to highly ornately curved violin-like shapes. I suspect google search on dulcimer construction and specifications would answer your question. FretFind2D doesn't just calculate fret spacing. Handcrafted by June Apple Dulcimers How is the chromatic spacing … The two melody strings are tuned in unison to another A1 but of course their pitch is changed as the noter moves from fret to fret. Mark the center of each end of the FRET-BOARD also, so you can place it correctly on the top of the soundboard. For example, on a 24" scale, in a perfect world the 12th fret should be exactly 12" from the nut. *For an explanation of the Gibson scale length changes over the years see www.stewmac.com. Stick Dulcimers use the same fretboard spacing as the modern day 12 fretted Mountain Dulcimer (also referred to as 11 frets with the modern 6 1/2 fret.) I've never seen this before. An indispensable tool for luthiers (guitar and other stringed instrument makers). showing at the top of the dulcimer. This gives the Stick Dulcimer an old time feel when being played. Because of this approach, it can design fretboards for instruments with multiple scale lengths and non-parallel frets as well as fretboards for instruments that play just or meantone scales. My main dulcimer has a VSL that's slightly over 26 inches, and there's plenty of room for the 8 1/2 fret. Note: The scale length of a guitar is always twice the length from the front of the nut (or zero fret) to the 12th fret. Some purists think that's "cheating." Forums » Discussions » Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, ... Just saw a dulcimer that has chromatic spacing on the drone strings, and diatonic spacing on the melody strings. I am very glad now that I listened and had the extra fret put on. Some historic dulcimers had only three strings while others were four to six. Please select your instrument class, and enter the scale length. fret spacing for a mountain dulcimer. The tuning is D-A-D-D where the top 2 strings are tuned identically to give it some more resonance (similar to a sitar), and the diatonic scale is in the key of D Major (you could tune it to other keys, but the further away you tune this from the original D, it will not sound exactly correct as the fret spacing is designed for this specific key and scale length (fret lengths). On the next page are the notes of the fret … Posted by Ted Crocker on December 23, 2009 at 3:24pm in Ted's Mad Scientist Lab; Back to Ted's Mad Scientist Lab Discussions; There are a few online fret calculators that will give you the fret spacing … This will also provide you with nut-to-fret and fret-to-fret dimensions. The 3rd fret is 1 or “do” !!! Grover Sta-Tite tuning gears with a … 9. The irregular spacing of the frets actually helped them play old mountain tunes that were written in different kinds of scales (called modes) that are seldom heard today. Diatonic Scale and Open Tuning are used to produce natural harmonies when all three strings are strummed together. Measuring the distance from the nut to the saddle(s) is not exact because the saddles where moved during setting the intonation. Named for its use in the parlor or on a porch during a couple's days of courtship, the Courting (or Tandem) dulcimer is essentially two dulcimers put together and allows two people to play at once. I use 12 fret slots that correspond to the frets of a mountain dulcimer. i found a md fret calculator. I like "Paul's fret calculator". This becomes my ruler for future builds. Simply enter the the number of frets and the scale length in millimetres then press the calculate button for an … One of the most important and tedious parts of a dulcimer is the fretboard (Image 7). Looking for more? 10. 7. Fret Calculator If you find this utility useful, please link your site to this page.