I have a McSpadden fretted dulcimer which is maybe five years old. There is a problem I have had with it for some time. This is the problem. I play it D-A-A. One of the A's is the melody string, the others are accompaniment.

All three strings have a problem, but I will use the A melody string to describe it. When I tune it to A and then move up the scale, the notes get sharper and sharper. My low B and high B are 15 cents off. This is definitely enough out of tune to be noticed. (I have a friend who tunes pianos, and she tells me that trained players usually call her in when a piano is 5 cents off.)

Putting on new strings does not solve the problem.

I have talked to a couple of dealers, and they say it is highly unlikely that the frets are in the wrong place. They also say that the fret spacing should be the same for D-A-A and D-A-D. What else can be causing this?

By the way, I sent McSpadden an inquiry once, and they never answered.