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Stringing a Hammered Dulcimer

By Randy Davis, craftsman.

Copyright 2001 by ardie's handcrafted dulcimers

www.ardiesdulcimers.com

Someone once said (perhaps it was me) that stringing a hammered dulcimer is a #@$% bloody sport that ought to be left to those who feel no pain and are not easily frustrated. In fact, before stringing a hammered dulcimer yourself, you ought to seriously consider finding someone you dislike intensely and hiring him or her to do it. That way you would get two things you want: a bit of sadistic revenge on your enemy and a strung instrument.

The reasons stringing a hammered dulcimer is so difficult are several.

Picking the Wires

First, you have to determine the exact gauge of wire to use for each course, no easy task because so much depends on the measurements of the instrument, the angle of the bass bridge as well as its position, the skill of the stringer and personal taste. For example, two different instrument makers that we know of use the following wire gauges for the treble bridge |C through high |G on their 15/14 models:

Maker No. 1

Note Wire Gauge

D|G 7-6-7

C|F 7-6-7

B|E 7-6-7

A|D 8-7-8

G|C 8-7-8

Maker No. 2

Note Wire Gauge

D|G 5-5-5

C|F 5-5-5

B|E 6-6-6

A|D 6-6-6

G|C 6-6-6

While the stringing scheme for Maker No. 1 will not work on the ardie's handcrafted Performance 15/14 Hammered Dulcimer, the scheme for Maker No. 2 will. However, we like less sustain in our instrument than the second stringing scheme allows, so we don’t use it. Instead, we’ve adapted a stringing scheme that works well on our 15/14 and which goes like this:

ardie's handcrafted

Note Wire Gauge

D|G 6-5-6

C|F 7-6-7

B|E 7-6-7

A|D 8-7-8

G|C 8-7-8

(You can view the full stringing scheme by clicking here.)

The reasons that Maker No. 1’s stringing scheme doesn’t work for us are simple: the thicker gauges either break or the loops come undone under the high tension of our design. In the end you go with what works.

You will note that we use two different gauges of wire per course (musical note) while Maker No. 2 does not. If we wanted increased resonance and sustain, we would use three gauges of the same wire so that they could resonate with each other at the same musical amplitude. However, since we want to lessen the sustain a course creates when struck, we mix in a wire of a different gauge which resonates at a different amplitude. The effect is less sustain – even if it is ever so slightly.

Getting the Wire

Obtaining high-quality piano wire of gauges 5-11 (those we use) is no easy matter either. Just try getting it at your local hardware store. Luckily a great piano supply company like Schaff Piano Supply Co. (www.schaffpiano.com) caters to instrument builders like us, and carries the right gauges in the right quantities (½ lb rolls) at the right prices. By the way, ½ lb of No. 7 wire means 568 feet of wire, so don't get carried away if you just need to replace three or four No. 7 gauge strings. You can find pre-cut lengths at certain dulcimer supply companies, but you’ll pay through the nose for them.

Required Tools

If you want to string your own dulcimer you’ll need the following tools and supplies (assuming you already have a dulcimer with hitch pins and tuning pins):

·        The appropriate gauge wires for each course.

·        A Looping Machine (don’t let the name fool you. It’s a hand-cranked machine for creating loops in wire, and it can be some persnickety).

·        A Tuning Lever for Harpsichord or Zither tuning pins.

·        A pair of wire-cutter, needle-nose pliers.

·        An electronic tuner or a tuning fork.

·        More patience than you think you have.

·        Persistence.

·        Band-Aids.

Looping, Looping, Looping

Besides the tensile strength of the wire itself, the next most important thing about the wire is the loop that goes around the hitch pin.  You can use at least two different kinds of loops: the English or Bass String loop, and the German Loop.  We prefer the German loop (which is started counter-clockwise on the looper) because it seems to create a more durable loop for us. If you don’t get this exactly right, you’ll never get the higher tension wires to tune. You also have to consider how many coils you want to take for each loop. If you take too many coils then you’ll weaken the loop or the loop will cut into the side bridge when the wire is tightened. If you take too few, the loop won’t hold.

Installing the Wire

Someone estimated that the wires on a hammered dulcimer create over 3 tons of tension on the instrument. In fact, if a single wire is not installed correctly, over time it can actually bend the hitch pin or tuning pin to which it is attached. Follow these simple steps and you should be ok.

1.               Starting at the side bridge next to the hitch pin, run the wire through the side bridge until the loop is next to the appropriate hitch pin.

2.               Loop the wire over the hitch pin and press the loop all the way down to the pin block. Make sure it stays there.

3.               Run the wire through or over the treble bridge or bass bridge as appropriate, and either through or over the side bridge next to the tuning pin. (We run our bass wires over the bass tuning pin side bridge and through the treble tuning pin side bridge. We run our treble wires through both side bridges. See the illustration below.)

4.               Pass the wire through the tuning pin and cut it so that about 1 ½ - 2 inches remains.

5.               Take the needle-nose pliers and bend a tight loop in the end of the wire.

6.               Pull the wire so that the newly created tight loop rests against the side of the tuning pin where the wire exits the pin.

7.               Push down on the wire so that it makes contact with the pin block right at the base of the tuning pin.

8.               While holding the wire against the pin block, use the Tuning Lever to turn the tuning pin clockwise so the wire begins wrapping itself around the base of the tuning pin. This will help keep the wire from pulling through the tuning pin under high tension. It will also keep the wire from crawling up the tuning pin and bending it under tension. (It is at this point that you may find the Band-Aids quite helpful.)

9.               Make sure the wire loop remains at the base of the hitch pin.

10.          Make sure the wire is positioned correctly on the appropriate treble or bass bridge and turn the tuning pin until the wire comes into tune.

11.           Repeat step 9 as many times as it takes until the wire remains in tune.

12.           Do the same to the next 86 wires.

On the High Wire

A note on high note wires (repetitively redundant, isn't it?). Stringing the high notes is sometimes difficult because the wire can break during the initial tuning. This is especially true for gauges 5 & 6 on the high B-flat and C on the Bass side, and the high F and G on the Treble side. To help avoid breakage, tune those wires a note or two lower than required and let them stretch for a few hours or overnight, then tune them to the proper note. If you don't do this, tuning them to the proper note immediately may put too much tension on the string and it could break.

How Long Should It Take?

If you’ve never strung a hammered dulcimer before, allow 8-12 hours to string a 15/14. Then allow another 48-72 hours for the strings to settle before it will hold the tuning, all the while beating the crud out of the strings with your hammers (not the construction kind). All in all it really takes about 6 months for a well-constructed hammered dulcimer to find its voice – so be patient.

If you have any questions about stringing a hammered dulcimer, please contact us at via our Contact Page and we’ll try to help any way we can.

 

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