Some Things About Strings Dwain Wilder

Here is some information and advice on the mechanical side of mountain dulcimers. Please bear in mind that it is hard to express every opinion about these matters. Many people have passionate opinions (as do I, in some cases) about what is best in a dulcimer. I'll do my best to keep my distance from all that here and just try to talk about all the options you will find on various dulcimers, and how to judge the best of each kind, how they operate, how to care for the instrument, and so forth. But be aware that I'll inevitably have a point of view on these topics. I'll just try to make sure its is really my own point of view, so at least we won't get confused about that!

There has been a lot of discussion about strings on Sweet Music Digest lately. The subject has interested me for some three years, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. Here's what have found out:

Wire string materials
Simple wire strings can be found in various steels, including stainless steel. It isn't at all clear what the material alone contributes to tonal quality in a dulcimer, in the simple wire strings. Stainless steel seems a little less brilliant, though it retains its new sound much longer, being resistant to oils and salts of the player's hand. I equip many of my Bear Meadow dulcimers with stainless steel wire strings.

Wound strings are more complex, naturally. Though differences between wire strings are hard to detect, there do seem to be more definite tonal quality differences among wound strings. These seem to be dependent on both material and manufacturing technique:

Nickel windings -- More brilliant
Phosphor Bronze windings -- More mellow
Gold-plated wire -- Somewhat quieter and less brilliant

There are some wound strings with the windings ground flat and semi-flat. These produce the so-called "squeakless" wound strings, since you don't get the whizzing sound from fingers brushing against the string. Some people find this sound annoying. Others find it part of the charm of stringed instrument sound, like the "chuff" of acoustic organs. It turns out that much of the brilliance of wound strings comes from those little round tops of the windings whizzing through the air. So if you choose these "squeakless" strings, you might want to experiment with the semi-flat version available from GHS, as they will have a little more "presence" than the totally flat version. On the other hand, some players don't seem to find the flat winding strings missing any quality at all. For years, Larkin Bryant has marketed a dulcimer string set that features "squeakless bass," and these seem to be very well received.

String manufacturers
There are a small number of string manufacturers. Other companies simply market under various labels. The three companies I am familiar with are:

GHS. My personal experience with this company is that they are willing to work with small-volume luthiers and re-sellers to formulate a string that is best suited to the instrument. This is an ideal resource for finding out more about how various core and winding materials will contribute to your sound. Unfortunately, they can't be expected to do this for every musician. But your favorite luthier may be able to get specialized information about string problems, if you have a real knotty no-good string problem.

D'Addario makes a full variety of wire and wound strings in a variety of formats and materials. They have been especially valuable as a source of light gauge phosphor bronze. They will sell in bulk to small-volume luthiers.

DR Strings is a hot new company that is cutting a wide swath among steel string guitar players. They are the only company that is hand-making wound strings. One thing that entails, for instance, is that the strings are fabricated at tension. In other words, the string core is stressed to its final working tension, then the ends are formed and the windings applied. The result is a method they call "Compression-Winding" which actually reduces the total diameter of the core/winding combination. They specify their strings in great detail, listing core shape (a hexagon whose corners "bite" into the winding and stabilize it) and material, as well as winding material. They also use high quality wire in their wire strings.

Since DR strings are all hand-made, the economics are not going to allow them a lot of flexibility and variety in what they make. You will not find every string available in ball or loop-end or in a variety of lengths. Essentially, they sell guitar sets. The only way to buy bulk is to wait until they have enough left-overs from a manufacturing lot to fill your order. All this makes it quirky dealing with them, but they are quite friendly to small-volume luthiers. For musicians, however, it's tough; you can only buy guitar sets.

What I use
I equip Bear Meadow dulcimers with two different string setups. Musicians who do a lot of chording or left-hand work on the fretboard often want a very light, low action. For these, I offer a Low Tension Setup. For musicians who have a more muscular style and often want a little "push back" from the action, I offer a Medium Tension Setup.

Low Tension Setup: I use my own hand-looped stainless steel wire for the .009", .009", and .012" strings. The .020" phosphor bronze wound string is a stock D'Addario loop-end string.

Medium Tension Setup: For this setup I use DR Strings, ball-end strings. It is basically a customized version or their "Rare" Phosphor-Bronze set which I custom order for lighter gauges: .012", .012", .016", .023".

Care and maintenance of strings
The most important care for your strings is cleaning. Over time oils and acids from fingertips break down the metals in steel wire. The result is a loss of brilliance or "presence." In extreme cases, the string will go completely dead and give a "thunk" without any high-end sound at all.

You can clean your strings with a clean dry cloth. Just pinch the cloth around the string with your fingertips and wipe up and down the string a few times. Unless you're very adept, avoid using alcohol to clean, as it may do surprising and unpleasant things to your dulcimer's finish!

Secondly, you should change your strings often. How often? More often than you think you should. Depending on how much playing you do, you might want to put on a new set every three months or so. Change strings a day before each concert, studio session, or serious gig. Allow a day for them to settle in. (Don't wait till the last minute or you'll be retuning constantly during the concert--how disconcerting. [Sorry, couldn't resist!]) Playing with fresh strings will do wonders for your performance.

The third thing you can do to maintain your strings is to make sure that the grooves in the nut and saddle where your strings pass are smooth. They should be super smooth when your dulcimer is new, but sometimes wear will rough them up a little. If you see any evidence of that, your strings could be experiencing a high tension on one side of the nut or saddle and much lower tension on the other side--a prime candidate for a string breaking machine. Get a music repair shop or luthier to dress the string slots up for you. Also, keep an eye on the small holes in the tuners that the strings go through. Those holes' edges will break strings sometimes, too. Keep their edges softly rounded (another chore for your music instrument repair person).

If you break strings frequently, try to find out where the break is on the string. That may give you a clue about what is causing the break. If it breaks at the place where it crossed the nut, and does so consistently, there's the probable cause.

Lastly, you can prevent some string stress by going slowly when you change tuning. Rapid changes of tension seems to be hard on strings.

Dwain Wilder is a luthier in Rochester, New York. Do you have comments or questions about his article? Contact him at

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