The Cumberland

About the Cumberland:

$160 base price.

Cumberland: 19 inch vsl.
3 string.
Approximately 25 inches long. 4 inches wide. 1 inch tall sides.
Standard tuning: Cgg.
1 inch wide fretboard with half width staple frets to be played Noter/drone or fingerdance only.

Options:
"Just Intonation", "Mean Tone intonation" or Pythagorean Temperament= $25
Fretting set for the mode/tuning of your choice. (note: this is best recommended for one mode/tuning. If the frets are placed for Ionian mode tuned to Daa it may not play well tuned differently.)

Fiddle Sides= $25

Feet= $5 as the old timey dulcimores had, the feet elevate your dulcimore off a table for more volume.

Additional frets= $5 each.

A Cumberland travel dulcimore finished up.
Equal temperament.
Tuned cgg with brass bass string.
Bronze frets.
Variety of woods.

Temperaments

I'd like to say a few things about temperaments.

Over the past year I've kinda been studying a lot and trying to learn as much as possible about the different temperaments. For most modern dulcimer players equal temperament is the go to thing. But a lot of the traditional dulcimore fans prefer and appreciate other temperaments.

For the longest time I was content with equal temperament. That is, until I began mainly focusing on playing Unison tuned dulcimores. To my ear, equal temperament sometimes can be brash, or harsh sounding in unison tuning. In the past, I've had no problems with equal temperament on modal tuned instruments.
But as a whole, I think this generation has been conditioned to the sound and tone of equal temperament to the point that nothing else sounds good or right, even if it is good and right. Our ancestors would likely think our fretting was off if they heard some of our equal temperament dulcimores.
Some dulcimore and dulcimer builders of this age have made custom temperaments that smooth here and there and take the sting out of equal temperament. Which is great! Dulcimore Dan has a custom temperament that works very well in different modes.

So a few weeks ago I set out to come up with a custom temperament for unison tuning. I built a simple box dulcimore with interchangeable fretboards. I tried several known temperaments including equal temperament and made 4 custom temperaments and the 4th try sounded very good to my ear. However, after trying all of them and working two straight days on them I tried Pythagorean temperament! Wow! It's much better than anything I've tried in unison tuning! And it also sounds great in Ionian mode. I have some more testing to do, but I'm confident it'll work great!

Here's the test dulcimore and some temperament fretboards from the testing:

So here's my thoughts and impressions about the different temperaments. Please keep in mind that everyone has a sound or tone they prefer and my experience may not be yours. Also keep in mind that not all tunings will work well from what your dulcimore are set up with. For instance: If you order a dulcimore set up for Ionian note of D tuning in Just intonation, it may not sound great tuned to Dorian mode. It probably won't be horrible, and will still be playable, but just not excellent like in Ionian.

Equal Temperament:
ET (Equal Temperament) is kinda good at everything as far as I'm concerned. Some folks complain it sounds harsh or brash at times in Ionian mode as it clashes with the drones. That hasn't been my experience but like I said above, everyone don't hear the same. But it does sound harsh or brash to me at times in unison tuning.
ET would be the tuning to go with if you play a lot with others that are playing ET dulcimers or dulcimores. And chances are if they're playing guitars, mandolins, banjos, etc., they're equal temperament. Also, if you record and play several instruments on different tracks you'll probably want ET.
It will sound ok if you're in any of the modal tunings as well if you're playing a unison tuned dulcimore or if you have your unison tuned dulcimore tuned in a minor tuning.
It's actually hard to beat ET for unison tuning or for modal tuning for that matter, especially if you do a lot of re-tuning to different modes. It's not perfect, but it is flexible without sounding horrible.
Additionally, if I could only had one dulcimore, and I frequently re-tuned to play in different modes, I would likely choose ET.

Just Intonation Temperament:
I find JI (Just Intonation) to sound sweet in Ionian mode. I've not experimented with it a great deal in the other modes. But I absolutely do not like it in Unison tuning. However, with my unison tuned dulcimore with the melody strings tuned to "d" and the drones tuned to "e" (minor tuning which is basically Aeolian mode) it does sound fine. But I do know others that say they like it for Unison tuning. Like I said, we all hear differently, but it would be my last choice for Unison tuning.

1/4 comma Mean Tone Temperament:
MT (Mean Tone) seems to be a little more flexible than JI. I've tried it in several modal tunings and also in unison and it's minor tuning. It sounds OK in all of them. I find that I still prefer ET for unison tuning, but I like it better than JI for unison. It also sounds really good in Ionian and Dorian mode. If I had the choice between Just Intonation and Mean Tone Temperament I would go Mean Tone for the flexibility for different Modes, and especially if I were considering a Unison tuned dulcimore.

Pythagorean Temperament:
PT (Pythagorean Temperament) was new to me, but is one of the oldest temperaments. I've found it to sound great to my ears in Unison and in Ionian and Aeolian as well. The best thing I can say about PT is WOW! I'm going to be trying it in other modes as well and the Minor tuning of unison. I'll be doing more testing of this temperament in different modes and tunings soon.
So here's a sound sample of Pythagorean Temperament In Ionian Gdd:
CLICK HERE!
Here's a tune played in Unison tuning dddd:
CLICK HERE!
And here's a sound sample of Aeolian DAc tuning:
CLICK HERE!

UPDATE:
After testing for a few weeks,  to conclude with this post, my go-to temperament will be Pythagorean Temperament on my future builds for myself. It's more smooth sounding and ancient compared to Equal Temperament. It's slightly more flexible if you wish to re-tune to another mode. Not as flexible as Equal Temperament for re-tuning, but more than the other temperaments mentioned above to my ear. I absolutely love PT for my playing style, for Unison tuning, and for Modal Tunings. It sounds well on fast fiddle tunes in Unison tuning as well as in Aeolian mode. It also sounds great on slower tunes played in Ionian mode and Aeolian mode. I find it doesn't sound as nice when playing fast fiddle tunes in Ionian mode, but I have my Unison tuned dulcimores for that. 

Unison tuning revisited

In May 2019 I posted a topic about my thoughts and theories concerning Unison Tuning:
https://slatecreekdulcimers.blogspot.com/2019/05/old-virginia-dulcimores-and-unison.html

Recently I have been thinking more about the unison tuning compared to modal tuning.
And also, the Old Virginia Dulcimores compared to Dulcimores from surrounding areas.

As I previously stated, I believe unison tuning was a tuning which was mainly used for the old Virginia dulcimores..... particularly in the New River watershed area from North Carolina through Virginia, and into West Virginia.
The history is there if you wish to look for it to prove that area as famous for unison tuning.

But to further my thoughts, I am of mind to not only believe the tuning was THE tuning of old Virginia dulcimores, especially in that rich dulcimore heritage area.... but I'm thinking the old Virginia dulcimore was something other than the modal tuned dulcimores of West Virginia, Kentucky, areas of North Carolina, Ohio and other places evidence has been found.

A lot has been said and thought about and theories about where the dulcimore came from. The Sheitholt is one theory (I agree partly). Some think the original dulcimores simply began as a zitter on a soundbox and were refined over time.
Those theories are fine with me.

However, this thought of mine will likely not sit well with some researchers and historians of the Appalachian Dulcimore......
I think the early unison tuned old Virginia dulcimores and the early hourglass modal tuned dulcimores from other areas were never the same instrument.... never meant to be, never were.
There's a list of instruments called droned zithers: Langspil, Epinette des Vosges,  Scheitholt,  Hummel, Langeleik and a few more including the Appalachian Dulcimore.

Of those that I've researched, lightly I might add...... I'm no historian of any of them, but from the information I have researched the Swedish Hummel is most interesting to me. Why? Because it's tuned with all strings in Unison. Sometimes one string will be tuned an octave lower, but still in the same note.

Some may say there couldn't possibly be a separation such as this.... Saying: there's no way two distinct different styles or rather, two different instruments came to life in the early development of the Appalachian Dulcimer!
I beg to differ.... Take a look at this map:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Drone_zither

All of those different drone zithers distinctly different in such a small area! So you explain to me WHY the Hummel couldn't have been the daddy of the old Virginia dulcimores!

But as that article says........ regardless......... they are all believed to have been developed from the Scheitholt. So in theory they all came from the same place. But it's still my belief the original Virginia dulcimores originally were totally different instrument from other dulcimores.

What does all this mean........... not much really. Other than they were tuned like the Hummel in unison tuning and the others were modal tuned.
They were all basically played the same...... sorta.......