Hi,

I haven't been aware of this forum until today, when a friend pointed out this thread to me. But I thought I'd put an oar in, as the inventor of FlexiFrets, just in case any of you still had a question you'd like to ask about this thread.

To answer a couple of questions than have come up already: FlexiFrets consists of a 3/32X3/32" brass channel with a .016" slot in the top. This is mounted in a groove milled into the dulcimer fretboard. Then a piece of conventional fretwire slides into the groove in the top of the channel. It is held in by the spring tension of the sides of the groove against the fretwire tang. This tension can be adjusted by a very simple procedure, to accomodate wear. Someone remarked that getting the channel installed at the right height would be critical, and that is indeed true.

As for the rationale behind creating them, I noticed over some years that many dulcimer players struggled with the decision whether to get "extra" or chromatic frets installed. The problem is, modern music is chromatic, yet the charm of the dulcimer is that is the one remaining clear window into an older modal music. On the dulcimer's diatonic fretboard, modal music is obvious. But how to play chromatic music is not obvious.

Of course, there are many answers to this dilemma, as some of you have pointed out. But I thought that what I could contribute would be a removable fret, so that chromatic music was available yet the dulcimer could easily be returned to its primal diatonic state, almost pristine (except for that little slot which is hardly more than the thickness of a business card).