Diy Stick dulcimer - Andy Mackie - The tail gluing jig and info

This is a companion video for building the diy stick dulcimer videos put out by Andy Mackie. It shows the tail gluing jig, seen in the second video. Hopefully it also provides a little clarity on some of the questions that popped up for me when I first built the stick dulcimer. I also list the parts that I used (In the video and below). If it's not clear, for the sake of brevity, it is intended to be a stop and read/write measurements, kinda video. The music in this video is Andy singing and playing the harmonica.
Here is a link to the "step one" video of how to build Andy's stick dulcimer.
• How to Build a "Strum-...
A few thoughts and links to follow.
Where do I begin. I first built one of these stick dulcimers several years ago, after watching the videos put together by Andy Mackie. As usual, with an overly busy life, I took what I needed and looked no deeper than I had to.
Tonight was a little different. While drawing up some plans for the gluing jig, that is shown in his videos (and is needed, based on my previous experience), I had the opportunity to do a deep dive into who and what Andy Mackie is/was. Truly an inspiration, and I would encourage anyone to watch the videos that I will link below.
I will give you a bit of a spoiler...Toward the end of his life, his thoughts were to give back and leave behind something good....and he succeeded. It inspires me. I think it will you too.
Here's one to explain Andy... • Good News - Meet Andy ...
Here's what he did in the schools.... • Education Through Folk...
Some links and tips that may help you on your own build.
A jig may be the difference in having a straight sound box. I built my first one without a jig, and the sound box was a little off center. For anyone interested, he shows the sound box gluing jig, in video 2 around the six minute mark. I don't think the round cutouts are necessary, but he had them, so I drew them in. I probably won't cut them out on my jig.
The pins he uses are spelled...Escutcheon pins...I had a bear of a time figuring that out. lol. They sell them at the big box stores.
www.homedepot....
I remember from a previous dulcimer build, that the green vinyl coated clothesline ($6), sold at Walmart & H. Depot, is a lifetime supply of high e strings, if you have the patience to unravel them. (The high e string can be used for 2 of the dulcimer strings)
www.homedepot....
String sizes.
A pack of Dulcimer strings has 2-.012 (High E) strings , 1- .014 string (The B string, on a guitar is .016), and 1- .022 (A guitar G string is .025) I will be using the two "clothesline E strings", mentioned above, and purchasing a few .022 strings or if not available some .025 guitar strings. or...I may finally get around to changing my guitar strings and trying different string sizes for the dulcimer base string. Who knows. lol
Another thing I have done before is buy a bone (bleached) from a pet store, , and made my bridge from it (video 5 ...8 min mark). It's a pain and stinks to high heaven, but I believe it improves the sound. Is it worth it?...idk.
www.petsmart.c...
One final tip (for now) would be, I bought a very inexpensive 12" flush cut saw from Harbor Freight, to use as a fret saw ($9). It worked out fine. I think I may have had to hammer on the offset teeth a bit to make the kerf smaller.
www.harborfrei...
If you have a couple more dollars, this Zona dovetail saw is well worth it. It has the correct kerf .020 inch .....
www.amazon.com...
The frets and tuning hardware that I used.... I bought my supplies from Stewmac online. www.stewmac.com/
The frets.... The big one for the nut (fret zero) (.053 crown)
www.stewmac.co...
The smaller ones (frets 1-12) (.037 crown)
www.stewmac.co...
The affordable tuners
www.stewmac.co...