General info - 3/16/18/8 Custom Performance

The picture at the top of the page shows the model of the first Hammered Dulcimer I own - it is a James Jones  3/16/18/8 Custom Performance  model with dampers, a Mini-Flex^™ internal microphone, and the Dusty Strings Tri-Stander^™ legs.

This instrument is chromatic and covers a range of over 4 octaves - from D2 to F6  (D below C below middle-C to F above C above C above middle-C).  One can play in the major keys of D, E, F, G, A, B-flat, B, C, and their related minors.  However just because one can play in all those keys doesn't mean they are all equally as easy to play in.  Sometimes it is an interesting challenge to find the right chromatic to play in a certain octave that works into a relatively reasonable hammering pattern for a tune, but I think that this is the case on any hammered dulcimer.

The tuning chart for James's 3/16/18/9 model dulcimer is shown here - the difference between the instrument for which this chart was made and mine is that mine does not have the D#3 on the Bass 2 bridge.
 

Materials

The materials used in my instrument are as follows:

• Frame - Cherry
• Soundboard - Blackened Redwood
• Pin Panels - Lacewood
• Bridges - Cherry

Any more information or explanation about the materials can be found on James's web site under  Woods.

Personal comments about my dulcimer

First of all, to read about how I picked out my dulcimer, go to my  Builders  page under "Selecting an instrument".

As for my personal experience with my dulcimer, I couldn't be more pleased with it.  It holds its tuning very well, and for an instrument with this many strings, that's a plus, believe me!  The tone of the instrument is warm and kind of "round", unlike some instruments I've heard that are tinny, harsh, and edgy sounding.  This is, of course, my preference - a warm, round-sounding instrument.  The bass strings, which go pretty low for a Hammered Dulcimer, have a good, full tone, and aren't real gritty sounding as some I've heard are.  (And you should hear it when I mic the dulcimer and run it through an electronic effects unit with an octave pitch shifter shifting the pitch an octave lower!  That's cool!)

I use my dulcimer for my own pleasure, and, for a year and a half, I used it in a Celtic and Old-Time Band called Ebenezer.  Since I also played percussion and keyboard in the band (not all at the same time, usually), and I carry my dulcimer around a lot, too, I find that, though my dulcimer is not the lightest thing I carry around (my keyboard weighs in at 55 lbs.!), it isn't the heaviest, and is much easier to carry than the keyboard.  For those of you out there who are physically small, this would be a big instrument for you to carry around, but I know of ladies (who are smaller than me - I'm just a hair under 6 feet) who have chosen to do just that.  This is one of James's large instruments, it seems, and the dampers and Tri-Stander^™ fittings add extra weight to it.  But I am very pleased with my dulcimer, even considering the weight.  Without the dampers and leg fixtures, a dulcimer of the size of mine is actually not very heavy compared to others, so you have to look at these things when buying.

And on the subject of dampers - I got dampers because I liked the sound they create while playing with them on.  It is a cross between a pizzicato (plucked) violin and a marimba.  Learning to play musically with the dampers applied takes some work, but the sound is very cool.  Another application for the dampers is to stop notes from ringing if one wants a sudden break in the music.  The working of the dampers is by way of a floor pedal connected to the dampers by a cord.  The dampers and pedal work opposite to the way the damper pedal on a piano works - when the pedal is not depressed (and everyone knows what a drag it is to have a depressed pedal), the notes ring normally.  When the pedal is depressed, the notes are damped (which is what one would expect from a depressed pedal).  A number of people have dampers on their dulcimers whether they are James Jones Dulcimers or made by someone else.  Plans can be obtained from the internet, I believe, or through one of the Hammered Dulcimer email lists.

After owning my dulcimer for about a year, and having started to play with Ebenezer, I had James install a Mini-Flex^™ microphone in my dulcimer.  This is the mic James recommends for installation in his dulcimers (see his Sound Accessories page ).  This mic is a low impedance mic, and plugs directly into a mic input on a mixer.  James mounts the mic on the rail nearest the player, so a special cable is needed to keep the connector from poking you.  James sells a nice right-angled 1/4" to XLR balanced cable just for this.  It is well worth the money, unless, of course, you make quality specialty mic cables in your home.  My local music store could order one, but they had none in stock.

Before buying one of the Mini-Flex^™ mics, I asked several people who use them how they liked them, and got good reports.  One fellow said he had trouble in certain halls with the mic being to "hot", i.e., too sensitive.  Not knowing the particular set up of the stage and monitors etc., I can't say why that was, but I know the first time I tried using it in an open mic situation at a festival (without having the instructions or the right kind of cable with me), the sound man plugged me into a high-impedance input (using a 1/4" to 1/4" cable).  This produced an extreme sensitivity and we couldn't use it.  However, I have used the mic in rehearsals and in performance since then with the proper cable and instructions to the sound man, and it worked just fine.  Also, with it, if one is inclined, which I am, one can plug the mic into one's mixer, run the channel through an effects unit, and have effects such as reverb, delay, pitch shift (a shift of an octave lower is really cool on the bass notes!), etc. on the hammered dulcimer sound.  So, I am also very pleased with the mic also.

I also am having built a second, additional, Dulcimer, a James Jones 3/16/15/6 Small Custom Chromatic.