Official Luthiers Forum!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/whatever you choose to celebrate.

Now back to business

I was thinking a making a mountain dulcimer for the spousal unit for next Christmas. Does anyone have a great resource for plans/directions/pitfalls?

As always, thanks in advance

Steve

Surprising that GAL doesn’t list a plan. I see that [URL]http://ultimate-guitar-online.ultimate-online-services.com[URL\] has one. I’ve purchased a couple of their downloadable plans, but mostly for body outlines and inspiration. They’re OK.


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I built one using a downloadable plan from Rockler. The plan cost a dollar. I didn't build it exactly as outlined on the plan but thought it was a good starting point. One of the Foxfire books has an interview with a builder which I thought was worthwhile too.

Dulcimers are fairly simple instruments. They are basically a long narrow box with the fretboard sitting on top. One thing to keep in mind is that the fretboard also acts as a long brace that helps support the top. As such you want to keep it light but stiff (as a guitar brace should be). To achieve this the "fret box" is hollowed out and only left solid in the area of the bridge. Traditionally the saddle is placed over the end block - zither fashion. If you want a louder instrument, moving it a few inches on to the soundboard will help, as will using a softwood (spruce, cedar, redwood) soundboard rather than the hardwoods often used. Hardwoods can sound very nice, just generally not as loud.
Since the sound of the dulcimer varies quite a bit, it is hard to build a "bad" one.
Foxfire volume 3 has a section on dulcimers and also one on old time banjos.

There are a couple of internet forums for dulcimers. These include dulcimer building. Check these out - just like guitars there is a considerable difference between the high level professional dulcimers and cheap kit stuff...

Unlike guitars - the traditional dulcimers tend to be very bright and very loud. These typically have hardwood tops. The more "modern" dulcimers have spruce or cedar tops and have a much warmer sound.

Its also worth thinking about how you want to do the fretwork and intonation... Traditionally - dulcimers were made to play in 1 key and were fretted by ear for "perfect" pitch.. Modern ones are setup for equal temperment so they can be played in multiple keys.

Also - some modern dulcimers are fretted for chord playing... Very different from the original noter drone style...

Steve I imagine you noticed this one:

A Dulcimer Builder's Do-It-Yourself Guidebook
Randy Davis - Crafts & Hobbies -

Dave

I built 8 in 2009-11, 4 were peghead style. Then I found a set of plans by Scott Antes(?) with planetary tuners knobs on side. I have forgotten the terms.

Found most were 2" deep but deeper sounded better. Took lessons and instructor had a deep one. It sounded great.

A lot of builders want to focus on styles built around 1900 or so and make no changes. Others want to make them simple to play.

Its like the folk Music scene of the 60's.

Luthier Ted Davis also did a set of dulcimer prints.