16/15 Hammered Dulcimer Bridge Placement

[Dylan Ball]

Hello, I am in the process of tuning my 16/15 dulcimer I built from a custom kit and for some reason I cant find the correct placement for the treble and bass bridge, its badly out of intonation. Is there a specific distance inward from the left and right side bridges or?

[Nic Hambas]

I just saw this post for the first time ten months later. Wow! Not a single answer! Anyway, here's an answer for those who might have the same question: The treble bridge should be placed at exactly 2/5ths of the distance between side bridges. Final intonation may require some minute adjustments to that. The bass bridge should be placed at a safe distance to the right of the treble bridge so that the strings don't buzz under the treble bridge, but close enough so the player doesn't have to stretch too far between bridges. This improves playing speed. Final placement of the bass bridge, of course, depends on the gauge of the existing bass strings, but that is another story.