Sticky Tuning Wrench???

Hammer dulcimer players, harpers and autoharpers tune more than most musicians.  They do so across a huge range of pitches and often with multiple courses supporting each tone.  That’s a lot of “wrench-time”.  

Sometimes the tuning wrench doesn’t let go of the tuning peg without a bit of wiggling.  Worse yet, sometimes the wiggling to free the wrench may knock a string out of tune.  Anything that slows down or confounds the tuning progress is frustrating.  You don't have to suffer a sticky tuning wrench.

Here is a simple cure.  Use a lead pencil to mark the inside of the hole in the tuning wrench.  Put the point of the pencil into the hole of the tuning wrench and rub it along the interior of the hole.  A star-shaped wrench has eight star-points spaced around the opening.  Run the pencil up and down each of those star points.  This puts a small amount of graphite on the shoulders of the wrench and makes it slick.  It will be easier to slide on and off tuning pegs.

You may be tempted to trot off to the hardware store and buy a tube of powdered graphite that is intended to lubricate locks.  That will certainly work.  But it is also likely to put far too much graphite into the wrench opening.  It could be a real mess on your dulcimer.  Stick with the lead pencil.  It works and doesn’t deliver too much of a good thing.

Rock 'n Roll on the Hammer Dulcimer

It's time for rock-n-roll on the dulcimer!  The choice is the 1960's rock-n-roll song Stand By Me   

It's a great tune that has endured for half a century.  Here are some points to note about it.

    * Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Stand By Me as number 122 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

    * In 1999, BMI reported that Stand By Me was the fourth most-performed song of the 20th century, with more than 7 million performances.