old time wire frets for dulcimer (or anything fretted)

I often wondered how luthiers of old found their fret wire…I mean, even now it’s not something you can usually hop down to the corner market and pick up, so how did they build those dulcimers in the backwoods where you had to scratch build just about all of it? Real fret wire has sort of a capital “T” cross section…you cut a slot in the neck and pound the base into the groove till all you see is the top of the wire. While I’m sure they have had this style of fret since 1800’s and maybe before, I bet it was not easy to get, or cheap.

I was lucky enough to get to see a dulcimer that dated back to the late 1800’s. There is a world of difference between speculation as to how they did something back then, vs. seeing the real deal. Then you know FOR A FACT how it was done.

It was so simple, I coudn’t belive it! maybe there are some luthiers here that, this is old stuff to them, but I had never heard of it. You take common piece of bailing or any other type of wire and bend it in sort of a staple shape. You drill small holes at each side of the neck where the fret goes and press it in…how easy is that! to make it more secure, you could glue it, or if you really wanted to get carried away, cut a recess under the neck to crimp the ends or twist together. Depending on the diameter of the wire, your nut and bridge groove depth would have to be cut accordingly. I suppose unless you used a hardened wire, it may wear grooves a little quicker, but this is such a cool trick and a money saver too, I have to share it. Not to mention, if you wanted to make a REALLY traditional instrument with carved wooden tuning pegs, these frets would be perfect.

This is a sketch I drew and sent to a friend who also builds dulcimers. Hope it makes sense.
There is also the bit on there about hourglass vs. teardrop body styles. I know I mentioned that in a seperate post, but it’s already on the drawing so we’ll just leave it there in case someone missed it!

I’ll try to post actual pix of these frets being installed someday…

-- Jon