A significant factor in playability is the spacing between courses of strings. The tighter the spacing, the more accurately you must play. The wider the spacing, though, the bigger the instrument, so there is a balance to find between ease of playing and portability.
We’ve chosen 1-1/16" as our standard spacing. This is comfortable for beginning to advanced players. Our Chromatic Series dulcimers have 1-3/16" spacing to promote clean, accurate playing on potentially more complex pieces and for the deep resonant tone that a larger soundbox can give. This feature is especially useful in performance and recording situations.
Adapting to a different string spacing usually only takes a few minutes, so what you’ve been playing shouldn’t limit what you might want to choose for your next instrument.