This might be a bore for many of you, but it got by blood flowing. It has to do with the Dulcimer and the guitar.
I have been making guitars for some time and think that I know a lot about them. I blogged some time back about how Pythagoras figured out the math behind the spacing of the frets on the typical guitar fingerboard. This might be a repeat, but it is worth it. Pythagoras noticed that when he looked at all the guitars of the time of different lengths, the 12th fret always ended up in the middle. It was a curious fact and Pythagoras was bound to figure out why. He notice that the spacing got wider as they approached the "nut". Why was this? As he thought about it, he concluded that the only way that this could work out so well was if the frets were spaced based on the 12th root of "2".
Example. It the distance between the nut and the bridge was 26", the 12th fret would be 13" from the nut or in the middle. The next or 11th fret would be 13" times the 12th root of "2" from the bridge. For the 10th fret, it would be the above distance time the 12th root of "2" again and so until you get to fret #1.
Now that we have that out of the way, what does this have to do with the Dulcimer? The Dulcimer is a popular musical instrument from Scotland, and the Appalachian area of the USA. Some say that it is actually a stringed equivalent of the Bagpipes. That is because of its 4 strings, two are plucked "open" and only the top two strings are fretted. This has the affect of a "droning" typical of the droning of the pipes on the Bagpipes.
Now to the punch line. If you have every looked at a Dulcimer, you will notices that the frets are spaced very irregularly compared to how the frets on a guitar are positioned. When I first looked at one, I thought that it was some totally new type of arrangement, but the other day I placed a, "just sawed" guitar fingerboard next to the one on the Dulcimer. To my surprise, all the frets on the Dulcimer aligned with "some" on the guitar. What they did on the Dulcimer was to leave "off" the extra frets that would not ever be needed to play the notes on the "D" and "A" strings of the Dulcimer. As pointed out above, when you play the Dulcimer, you only finger the pair of "D" strings. This avoids the chance of fingering the wrong fret and provides a lot more space for your fingers. It also makes the Dulcimer much easier to play.
Next time you see a Dulcimer or a guitar, check out the placement of the frets and realize that they were originally place there based on what sounded good to the human ear and much later Pythagoras figured out the math behind it. Us humans were smart enough to figured it out without knowing anything about science or math. Interesting!
I have been making guitars for some time and think that I know a lot about them. I blogged some time back about how Pythagoras figured out the math behind the spacing of the frets on the typical guitar fingerboard. This might be a repeat, but it is worth it. Pythagoras noticed that when he looked at all the guitars of the time of different lengths, the 12th fret always ended up in the middle. It was a curious fact and Pythagoras was bound to figure out why. He notice that the spacing got wider as they approached the "nut". Why was this? As he thought about it, he concluded that the only way that this could work out so well was if the frets were spaced based on the 12th root of "2".
Example. It the distance between the nut and the bridge was 26", the 12th fret would be 13" from the nut or in the middle. The next or 11th fret would be 13" times the 12th root of "2" from the bridge. For the 10th fret, it would be the above distance time the 12th root of "2" again and so until you get to fret #1.
Now that we have that out of the way, what does this have to do with the Dulcimer? The Dulcimer is a popular musical instrument from Scotland, and the Appalachian area of the USA. Some say that it is actually a stringed equivalent of the Bagpipes. That is because of its 4 strings, two are plucked "open" and only the top two strings are fretted. This has the affect of a "droning" typical of the droning of the pipes on the Bagpipes.
Now to the punch line. If you have every looked at a Dulcimer, you will notices that the frets are spaced very irregularly compared to how the frets on a guitar are positioned. When I first looked at one, I thought that it was some totally new type of arrangement, but the other day I placed a, "just sawed" guitar fingerboard next to the one on the Dulcimer. To my surprise, all the frets on the Dulcimer aligned with "some" on the guitar. What they did on the Dulcimer was to leave "off" the extra frets that would not ever be needed to play the notes on the "D" and "A" strings of the Dulcimer. As pointed out above, when you play the Dulcimer, you only finger the pair of "D" strings. This avoids the chance of fingering the wrong fret and provides a lot more space for your fingers. It also makes the Dulcimer much easier to play.
Next time you see a Dulcimer or a guitar, check out the placement of the frets and realize that they were originally place there based on what sounded good to the human ear and much later Pythagoras figured out the math behind it. Us humans were smart enough to figured it out without knowing anything about science or math. Interesting!
