Our handy reference guide has detailed charts that show fret. Another odd convention for a dulcimer is that there is only one 6 12 fret installed even though there is an additonal space where one would be appropriate between fret and fret 14. Gitty has a nice range of fretting tools and supplies to help you get going on your fretting jobs. Calculate fret placement for guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, and more in inches or metric. Calculate fret placement for guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, and more in inches. A new free fretting calculator has just been added to the knowledgebase here at. It will take roughly three feet of fret wire to fully fret a diatonic mountain dulcimer. I continue to hear about 1 and 12 frets on dulcimers. I hope you find them entertaining, instructive, and provocative.
Making appalachian dulcimers mountain dulcimer makers. Since i am likely going to purchase a mcspadden, is this an available feature. The bear meadow fret spacing calculator bear meadow dulcimers. You can figure out both of these by using the very first calculator above, the one that only provides the fret offset from the nut for a single fret, given the scale length and fret number. Most common are the 6 12 fret and the corresponding 12 fret an octave higher. Cigar box fret placement software sandy knoll software, llc. Figuring out where the frets go is one of the trickiest things about building a lap dulcimer. Just wondering if this is a coveted feature on a new dulcimer. Please not that the type of instrument has no baring on the fret spacing. The numbers with an asterik represent the frets on a mountain dulcimer.
Georgia luthier supply hourglass mountain dulcimer plan. This package contains four onefoot pieces, for a total of four feet of fret wire. Dulcimer kit instructions downloadable instructions for dulcimer kits. As soon as you complete your plan purchase with us, you will automatically be given a download link to access your plans. If you want fret distances in inches enter your scale length in inches. Electronic version full sized, very detailed plans of the hourglass mountain dulcimer. Dulcimer fret wire is sold in pieces that are twelve inches long. The first step towards getting a dulcimer to play in tune is to have the frets placed properly. Ive reorganized the tunes to the recordings they are found on. I just tried it and was able to download a pdf of 25. My older dulcimers do not have this feature, though both have the 6. Adding extra frets to the traditional diatonic dulcimer fret pattern is nothing new. Electric ukulele instructions and material lists, fret calculator link, lots of stuff electric ukulele this is crazy cool it would b so cool 2 get 2 play this. You can simply put the bridge where you want it and then set the fret spacing accordingly using the calculator.
Recorder musical instrument, free recorder musical instrument software downloads, page 2. Mandolin accessories free delivery possible on eligible purchases. The following calculator will calculate fret offsets from the nut for all frets of an instrument, given the. Please do not sell or mass distribute these tabs either in print or over the internet. Our fret calculator also gives you compensated bridge. This handmade dulcimer is a tribute to mountaindwelling bluegrass musicians everywhere. A dulcimer tabs dulcimer sheet music dulcimer music dulcimer songs.
By contrast, the dulcimer fretboard shows a varying pattern of narrow and wide spacings between frets. The next shows the most traditional of dulcimer fret patterns, not all that common today. I designed this page to calculate where each fret slot should be cut, measured both from the nut to. However, certain instrument have quite idiosyncratic designs. Buy mandolinukeleledulcimer fret wire jescar narrowlow gold four feet. Concert size ukulele body template in pdf format ukulele. Charles dulcimer is a beautiful hammer dulcimer made of solid wood with 9 courses of strings on the treble bridge and 8 courses of strings on the bass bridge, recorded by luis filip costa.
Rosamond campbell shelly stevens six string snowball by blue microphone snowball by blue microphones soutwind string gauge calculator strings tabs tom hicks tortex pick traditional dulcimer traditional dulcimer playing. Lasercut fret scale marking templates provide both. These templates also indicate the frets to skip to create diatonic dulcimerstyle scale, so they can be used on dulcimers, canjos and strumsticks and other similar instruments. It also doesnt require any power tools to build, which makes it a perfect project for anyone who is both bored and experiencing a power outage of indefinite. You enter the scale length and how many frets and fret specs will output the measurements for you in notepad. We have lots of romantic ideas for a heavenly maui wedding. I was very fortunate in that one of my friends on ed sent me a fret press that he had fashioned out of tool stock. For a new calculation hit the reload button of your browser. Beginning dulcimer makers are often perplexed about knowing where to place the frets. Owning a number of dulcimers, i have only one, a june apple cellomer, that came with the 1 12 fret, and i really like it.
Wfret is a downloadable application for windows computers. I designed this page to calculate where each fret slot should be cut, measured both from the nut to fret, and from the fret to bridge. Using this calculator you specify the scale length for the other strings, then if you specify the fret number as, say, 2 it will return the offset from the. So i was curious on opinion of how hard or can a 1 12 fret be added to one or two of my others. Fret position reference guide for mountain dulcimer, hurdy gurdy. Yafcalc calculates the distance to that extra 6 12 fret, but it is not normally installed on an instrument. A cigar box fret calculator for mac os x and windows.
If you know your scale in millimeters you have to convert to decimal inches. Fret specs 4 is a fret spacing calculator for the stringed instrument craftsman and luthier guitar makers will find this program very handy for custom scale length guitars. Calculating fret positions liutaio mottola lutherie. Microsoft musical instrument, free microsoft musical instrument software downloads, page 2. Having supplied ourselves with wood, the new dulcimer begins with carving the scroll peghead and tailpiece. I glued in the dots, sanded everything down and pressed the frets in. I do some minor repair and restoration to older vintage dulcimers i find around, but mostly fixing small cracks, broken head stocks etc. A nice ringing clear soundthis 16 fret dulcimer plays accurately to the 12th fret. The fret calculator will lay out fret spacing to match. Chords for dgd tuning plays in the key of g 47 notes on the fretboard. The wide spacings five per octave represent the five. Fret position reference guide for mountain dulcimer, hurdy. Our fret calculator also gives you compensated bridge placement only at. These two frets are so common that one could say they have become standard issue on most dulcimers.
Here is a an online fret calculator with several unique features. The scale length in decimal inches is the only thing that needs input from the user. Electric ukulele land look up ahead, i see the ukulele land, soon youll understand. The appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, although contemporary versions of the instrument can have as many as. If you build it with the intention of playing with a 151 dad, cgc, etc. This question can be a vexing one when we are trying to establish a method for cutting the fret slots. The stewmac fret calculator can give you fret measurements for many different instruments. Version 1, version 2, version 3, version 4, version 5, version 6 angels from the realms of glory dulcimer tab. The online dulcimer shop 401 lotis way louisville, ky, 40207 usa.
There are many discussions about temperament, scale length, etc. It doesnt print a template but will give distances in inches or mm, its more precise to choose mm. Measure fret spacingprintable fret template handmade. Download fretcalc determine the distance between nut and frets, as well as fret to fret by writing down the length and number of frets, while choosing the desired calculus method. Mandolinukeleledulcimer fret wire jescar narrowlow.
Note to dulcimer players chords for dad tuning plays in. Unless otherwise specified, all plans are sold as electronic downloads. This 208page book is the ultimate reference for any builder of appalachian dulcimers. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Because mountain dulcimers are not chromatic they dont have every fret. Building a ji fretted mountain dulcimer has a serious complication that jumps out at you from the fret spacings. When building a guitar or bass and cutting your own fretboard slots versus buying a preslotted fretboard, its very important that the fret slots be cut accurately. Our fret wire is a perfect size for use in building appalachian dulcimers.
Bear meadow fret calculator mountain dulcimer makers. Fret calculator a simple program for calculatiing and. Enter the scale length in millimeters if you need millimeters. When measuring, always measure from the nut, its more precise that way. A program to calculate fret placement and string size for cigar box instruments.
Paul haslem compositions for the hammered dulcimer free for you to download, print off and learn. Note to dulcimer players the chords in the following sections will work for mountain dulcimers but they will be reversed. Fret spacing calculator for luthiers peaceful daves stuff. If you prefer a more standard fret spacing, just measure another dulcimer and copy its string length.
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