Frequently Asked Questions
General ordering info / Shipping charges / Ordering without a case / Wood tonal characteristics / Binding & purfling / Satin vs. gloss finish / Bone nut & Saddle / Scale length / Extra frets / Custom inlay / Custom soundholes / Warranty / Return policy
If you would like to place an order please feel free to give us a call or email us at dulcimers@bluelioninstruments.com. We really enjoy and look forward to personal contact with our customers, and always welcome hearing from you. We are not accepting orders via a secure site over the internet at this time, but you're welcome to email your order to us.
Below are some frequently asked questions; if you have a question not covered or would like more information please feel free to give us a call—our phone number is 805 438-5569.
How long will it take to get an instrument? Unless the instrument is in stock, the average time to build an instrument is about 12 to 14 weeks, depending on the model, custom options and choice of finish. This can vary by several weeks depending on the time of the year (weather, festivals being attended, etc.) so be sure to let us know if you have a deadline for delivery.
How can I pay for the instrument? We ask for a deposit of half the total cost of the instrument; prior to completion we will notify you when we expect to be able to ship the instrument and verify the balance due. Upon receipt of the amount due we will ship the instrument to you via UPS or DHL ground service. You can pay by personal check, money order, VISA, Mastercard or Discover card.
If you mail in an order and would like to put it on a credit card, be sure to include the following:
Minimum amount for
credit card orders is $15.00. With all orders, be sure to include your address
and phone number just in case we need to give you a call.
NOTE: Cancelled orders may be subject to a 15% cancellation fee.
What does shipping cost? We regret that we are no longer able to offer free shipping on our instuments. Effective 1/1/08, please add $20.00 for shipping and handling with any instrument ordered. See the Accessories page for shipping charges on items ordered without an instrument.
Can I order an instrument without a case? If you choose to order an instrument without a case, we charge an additional $10.00 to cover the cost of a stronger box and extra packing materials. These materials may include Styrofoam packing peanuts, which we encourage you to recycle, either by donating them to a packing center in your area or saving to reuse. While we try to avoid using packing materials which are not environmentally friendly, the safest way to ship an instrument often requires the use of these peanuts. All of our peanuts come from recycled sources (we haven't had to buy any yet!) and we hope you'll be able to find a home for them other than in a landfill. If you have the room, we encourage you to save the box we shipped your instrument in; should you ever need to return it to us for repair (or whatever) you will have a suitable container on hand.
WOODS
What effect on tone do the different woods have? As a general rule, most players agree that hard, dense woods such as maple and cherry tend to accentuate a treble response, (which could be translated to a "brighter" sound), while walnut is considered to have a slightly more mellow tone, and rosewood is known for producing the most balanced response of all the hardwoods. What this means to a dulcimer player is this: if you are looking for a bright sound, cherry or maple is probably your best bet; if you want a mellow sound which works well for backup and strumming, walnut is a good choice. If you want a very versatile tonal response, one that suits all styles of playing including fingerpicking, flatpicking and strumming, and offers a balanced response all up and down the neck, rosewood is the wood of choice.
When it comes to the soundboard wood, we prefer the tonal response of Western red cedar for both our dulcimers and our guitars. It has a "warmth" which tends to enhance the quality of the instrument's sound while avoiding overtones or too much of a treble response. We offer spruce as an option if you are looking for a brighter sound. Spruce is stiffer than Western red cedar and will therefore tend to accentuate the treble tones. Western red cedar comes in a wonderful array of colors, ranging from fairly dark (think milk chocolate) to reddish to creamy white (sort of like Neapolitan ice cream); tops can be either evenly colored or offer wonderful stripes of contrasting colors. If you have a preference, let us know. Spruce will tend to be very light color (whitish) and will yellow over the years. All the instruments pictured in this site have Western red cedar tops with the exception of the Force-d'Ossche 6 string.
Can I get an ebony fretboard overlay? Our preferred fretboard overlay material for the dulcimer is rosewood for many reasons, but ebony is an option available for an additional $75.00. Ebony is a more brittle wood than rosewood and tends to dry out and split more easily because it is less "oily" than rosewood. Because of this, frets also have a tendency to pop out of ebony fingerboards more easily, as the ebony does not grip them as well as does rosewood. Ebony is a harder and denser wood and if you are the type of player who gouges out the fretboard either due to your picking technique or your left hand fingernails then ebony may be a better choice. Ebony fretboards are standard on all our guitars because it is more durable and appropriate for a guitar fingerboard, taking into consideration the manner in which the instrument is fretted, etc.
What is binding and purfling? Binding and purfling are shown on the cover of our catalog, and in the photo of the cutaway guitar detail on the guitar page. Binding is a strip of hardwood—we usually use maple binding to accentuate rosewood, and rosewood to accentuate walnut, maple or cherry—which is attached to the top and bottom edges of the instrument, affording extra protection to this area. Purfling is the thin black-white-black strip of wood inlaid between the binding and the cedar or spruce top; it acts as both an extra decorative feature and a spacer for the binding. Binding visually "frames" the instrument as well as offering protection to the vulnerable edges. Blue Lion uses bookmatched wood binding strips for all our instruments so the top and bottom edge pieces are mirror images of each other.
FINISH
What is the difference between a satin and a high gloss lacquer finish? We use a nitrocellulose lacquer finish on all our guitars and for the gloss finish on the dulcimers; we use a CAB acrylic lacquer for the satin finished instruments. There is no discernible difference in tonal response between a satin or gloss finish. The satin finish is the standard finish on all our dulcimers; high gloss lacquer finish is standard on the guitars and available as an option on the dulcimers for an extra charge. The satin lacquer tends, to some extent, to hide the wood grain while the gloss lacquer is absolutely transparent and shows every detail—compare the two finishes to frosted versus clear glass. Some people consider the satin finish easier to maintain as it does not show fingerprints or minor scratches as much as does the gloss finish, but nothing enhances the color and grain of the wood quite like a hand rubbed gloss lacquer finish.
What is the difference between the bone and the ebony or rosewood nut and saddle? Bone is a harder material than either ebony or rosewood and therefore will tend to produce a slightly "brighter" sound than either ebony or rosewood. All nut and saddles "wear" with use; the action of the strings being drawn back and forth through the slots while tuning will deepen the grooves in the nut and saddle; bone tends to last longer than ebony which will last longer than rosewood. [You can help extend the life of the nut by keeping the string grooves lubricated with graphite; every time you change strings just sharpen a pencil and rub it in each groove, leaving a thin coating of graphite to help the string slide through the slot.]
What are the choices and which should I get? A proper discussion of the effect of different scale lengths on sound and playability would require several pages to explore adequately, so we'll skip the dissertation and just offer some advice: most players will find our standard 26 1/4" scale length satisfactory for DADD, DGDD, and DACC tunings, and less satisfactory but acceptable for the lower DAAA and similar tunings. Scale lengths longer than 27" necessitate longer finger stretches and are harder to play in contemporary styles which utilize more complex chording, melodic fingerpicking, etc., but may be necessary if you tune primarily to DAAA.
Scale length is defined as double the distance from the nut to the octave fret; on a dulcimer, this is the 7th fret, and on a guitar this would be the 12th fret. The actual distance from the nut to the saddle is normally slightly longer for proper intonation.
The shorter 26 1/4" scale is definitely the choice for playability. Also, we feel the tunings DADD and DGDD ("reverse Ionian") take better advantage of the dulcimer's sound-producing potential by keeping the melody strings tuned to a higher pitch.
If you wish to tune primarily to DAAA or lower, you may wish to select our 27 1/2" scale length, which is standard on the Jean Ritchie and bass dulcimers and optional on the other models. The wider-spaced frets on the longer scale will, of course, make the instrument somewhat harder to finger and possibly less effective for modern playing styles but will provide a long enough vibrating string length to allow for the lower-pitched melody string tunings.
We can, on special order, provide any scale length which will fit the dimensions of our instruments; we have created scales as short as 25" and as long as 29". We do not charge extra for custom scale lengths.
Can I get extra frets? As listed on the Options page, we are happy to install extra frets wherever you request. Prices are listed on the Options Page under Extra Frets. The most common extra frets are 1 1/2 and 8 1/2. .We also offer a chromatic fretboard option for $55.00.
(See the Inlay page for details)
CUSTOM SOUNDHOLES
See Custom Soundhole page for details
We guarantee materials and workmanship of the instrument for as long as we are alive and able to effect competent repair if necessary. Beyond that, it's up to you!
WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE THE INSTRUMENT WHEN IT ARRIVES?
We are both musicians, and we understand how hard it can be to buy an instrument unseen and unheard through the mail. We appreciate our customers' trust and confidence in our instruments, but we realize our instruments may not be perfect for everyone. If the instrument is a standard model without extensive customization, you may return it for a full refund within ten days of receipt as long as it is undamaged. We do ask that you call first before returning it so we can discuss the problem with you and perhaps work out a solution. [We are happy to report that in the last 24 years of building instruments only two have been returned; the first one because it was "too loud" and the second one the customer ended up calling us up a week later and having us send it back to him.]
Download a copy of our current price list.