The Ancient Art of Stringing the Mountain Dulcimer

How to (Re)string a Dulcimer

Playing the Mountain Dulcimer is a dying art. While very few people are proficient at this instrument, even fewer know how to restring one.

If you are removing and attaching strings, start from step 1. If you are only replacing broken or previously nonexistent strings start from step 3.

                                                            (If you don't already know these parts then give up.)

1) To remove old/frayed/dead strings you simply start by unwinding the tuning peg completely. The string will be free of the peg and you will be able to pull it out of the hole in the peg.

2) Now you can remove the string from the other end of the instrument. You should be able to just pull the string out of the corresponding hole in the tail of the instrument near the bridge.

3) When replacing the strings of your dulcimer you can use .33 mm acoustic guitar strings for the melody strings and the middle strings and .66 mm acoustic guitar strings for the bass string.

4) Push the non-coiled end of the string through the correct hole at the tail of the instrument. Pull it through until the coil is pushed up next to the hole. Make sure the string is going through the correct slots on the bridge and nut.

5) Now for the most challenging part: winding the new strings. Push the end of the string through the hole in the corresponding peg, wrap the string around the peg once (clockwise or counterclockwise depending on which string), and then tighten.

6) You are finally ready to tune the instrument. The most common tunings of the dulcimer are in the Ionian (D-A-A) and Mixolydian (D-A-D) modes. I prefer Mixolydian out of the two, in which you tune the melody strings to D, the middle string to A, and the base string to D.

7) You now know how to string a dulcimer, which you probably do not know how to play and never will. Good luck!