Music
October 19 (cont'd) Took only about an hour and a half to get a decent state of tune. Did the top string of each course up and down from the A440 found left of the treble bridge. After I got the top string of each course close to right, I tuned the two other strings to match. One more pass took care of strings that had gone flat (and sharp, how can... nevermind). The Korg tuner says I have notes from D to D, three octaves apart. Just so.
I have a few buzzy, almost dead strings. It's due to interference with the bass bridge in most cases, and in one case to the string rattling around in an oversized hole in the left sidebridge. I'll have to adjust the bass bridge, but not now. And I'll need to carve out some tiny shims for the oversized holes. But not now. Right now I'm just running scales and beating the strings to help everything loosen up, settle in and stabilize. I'm told this could take weeks. I intend to admire it for a while before thinking of what needs doing next or differently. . .
That lasted about ten minutes. I attacked the top end of the bass bridge with a sanding wheel on the Dremel tool then moved that bridge a fraction of an inch up toward the short rail. That let all the treble courses clear the edges of their holes in the bass bridge while still allowing the top treble course to pass the end of the bridge without contact. I had to de-tension the bass strings to make that adjustment, so of course I spent another hour retuning.
I bumped the treble bridge slightly to the left in order to produce a truer fifth across it. Notes to the right were very slightly sharp relative to the left section. This may require further adjustment, but it's easy with a home-made bridge bumper and the Korg. I couldn't get one of the courses to behave this way across the treble bridge. It was one for which I had to drill out an intruding screw -- the left side of that course is flat by half a tone compared to the right. Clearly, the edge of the hole is not terminating the vibrating segment of the string.
I shimmed the oversized holes using toothpicks (too small) and then with section cut from a shishkabob skewer (much better, still not tight enough). Even without exactly the right shim, it's clear that this is the way to go with these oversize holes. Likewise, a shim with a tiny notchs on opposite sides will allow me to restore the third string to the only two-string course remaining. Brass, wood, ivory... I'll use what I have for now but will find or make something appropriate by and by.
At four o'clock, I played three octaves worth of scales up and down without a dead note, a grossly out of tune one, or a buzz. I hereby declare dulcimer number one done. Refinements, of course, may never end.
