DULCIMER Page

		A front view from where the player would sit showing the dulcimer soundboard and Peg boards at the sides.

Another front view showing more of the front or "long" rail. I also built the folding stand called a scissor stand.

		This view shows the back side which is made of Baltic birch plywood, and shows the color matching "feet" below the area of the pin blocks. Also you can see the cut out hand hole for carrying the instrument.

This view from the top or "short" rail shows the alignment of the tuning and hitch pins. There are 73 pins of each type, which is 3 strings for each note across the treble bridge and 2 strings per note for the bass bridge.

		A side view showing the make up of the bridges, and the pins. The taller of the pins are the tuning pins and you can see 3 of each on this side and 2 of the hitch pins between each row of tuning pins.

This view is a closer view of the bridges, the rosette, and the soundboard. The soundboard is made of solid Redwood which is probably the best material available for dulcimer soundboard construction.

Click on any of the above pictures to see a larger sized one.


The rosette I inlayed in the soundboard	The type of scissor stand I built

This dulcimer is known as a 15/14 dulcimer because it has 15 courses or sets of strings across the center or treble bridge, and 14 courses across the bass bridge. The strings are played on both sides of the treble bridge but only on the left of the bass bridge. The treble bridge is positioned so it is in a 3:5 ratio, there is 2/5ths of the string on the left of the bridge and 3/5ths on the right side. The contrasting white and black markers on the top of each bridge give a visual indication of where the notes are.

This instrument was built using Bloodwood and Yellow Birch for the side rails and the bridges, and Hard or Rock Maple for the pinblocks. The top of the pin blocks are made of 3/4" piano plywood so the tension on the pins will not split the wood. The bottom, side rails, and pinblocks are glued together, and there are 2 hardwood dowels running between the pinblocks on each side for support. The top, or soundboard, was made of quarter sawn redwood and is fitted into grooves in the top edge sides of the pin blocks and therefore it "floats" freely and is held in place only by the pressure of the strings on the bridges. There is about 1/4" of open space between the soundboard and the top and bottom rails. The instrument is not an equal trapezoid (best seen in the picture of the back side), the corner angles are 60 and 70 degrees. This design allows the treble bridge to be straight up and down instead of angled allowing for easier playing.

I built the instrument from a VERY well written book by Randy "Ardie" Davis entitled A Dulcimer Builder's Do-It-Yourself Guidebook. You can learn more at www.ardiesdulcimers.com. When looking at the website, you will notice that this instrument looks very much like his new model, the Entre. The instrument described in the book does not have the sloping pinblocks and is "square" all the way across the top. I was delighted to see this new model as it was very much like the version I was building.

Click HERE to see the setting the dulcimer was made for, and to learn a bit more about our hobby.