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I am wondering about somthing . I am building the Dulcimer for the Challenge that calls for a 27" Scale , I want to shorten it . I know very little about this aspect . I am assuming that I cannot just eleminate the first fret Move the Markers accordingly and shorten it that much can I ? Or Can I ? How do I properly shorten the scale without messing up ? Or am I over thinking this ?

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I'm kind of a newb so somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I'm thinking you'll have to recalculate your fret positions to shorten the scale length.

I'm thinking yes. The problem is where does the bridge go? Say it was a mando and the bridge stayed in the same place the body join is now the 11 th fret. I'm guessing here.

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Regards from RangeView, Bill

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Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

Chris has got it right Wud. The calculator will let you do whatever scale length you wish. I use a 26" scale and it helps to reduce the span when playing cords.
By the way my challenge build is also a dulcimer. Black walnut B&S with sitka spruce top. I'll post some pictures when i get a little less lazy.

Cecil

Thanks guys , I appreciate the help .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

This is probably to late to help but there is a program called wfret that will give you whatever scale you want and you can print it out and just mark it off. Octive for diatonic is the seventh fret which would be 12th fret on guitar. Been building dulcimers for over 30 yrs and scale length used to be 29-31 inches. Standerd now is 25 so people can play chords easier.