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.