Hey all! Going down the rabbit hole (a trip I take often) of string weights and hope to bring some of you along with me this time :-) Recently finished a dulci-tar build for a customer who requested 6-1/2 and 13-1/2 frets with 3 strings 'Dad' tuning. Feeling like we missed out on the full-on chime of the double 'dd' course strings on top, I've decided to go for another. Inspired by the 'half fret' notion (new to me - I'm a guitar guy) I decided to go chromatic fretting and four strings with the 'dd' course on top.
This is where it gets interesting (if you made it this far). Like I said coming up on guitar, I'm gonna go with the top four strings of a guitar set, but I can either tune the 'G' up a whole step to A or the 'b' down a whole step to 'a' - compensating of course for string weight/tension. So here's my question (finally):
For you dulcimer or dulci-tar players (and builders), do you prefer the idea of a WOUND 'G' tuned up to 'A' - so having two wound strings and just the plain 'd's, or a PLAIN 'b' down to 'a' - so just the bottom wound D? (I'm leaving out the obvious third option for a plain G, but this rabbit hole's gotta stop somewhere!) I picture the two wounds option having a fuller tone of course and maybe better for rhythm, while the plain 'a' is probably easier for melody for most folks.
It's interesting that this is not so much an option for mountain dulcimer since the ergonomics are completely different and string weights are kept lighter probably for that reason? The greater finger power of your whole hand clamped around the neck really opens up the possibilities - and that damn rabbit hole :-)
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I had an old plywood Strat body and decided to make a conversion neck for it with Diatonic fretting. It's now a 28" Baritone scale and with the Diatonic fretting, it has 2 octaves. I use a 6 string set of 10's tuned C/G/C/G/C/C.
I can use the 3 low strings as Baritone Bass, or use the 4 high strings to play guitar power chords or play as a Dulcimer.
A friend of mine made a Dulcitar back in the late 80's and that made me take the time to build this one. It's the 2nd build for me.
Hey Paul, Thanks for jumping in. That's a real conversion and some clever stringing. Deserves it's own name: "Dulc-o-caster"? "Stratotonic"?
I've been calling it a Dulcitar for a long time, but Dulci-caster/Dulc-o-caster may be more explanatory. LOL Dulci-Strat!