Mountain Dulcimer | 2023

This American mountain dulcimer was built for two friends of our family’s as a (very belated) wedding present. The shape, scale, and heart sound holes are all traditional elements. I added the violin-style scroll with geared Wittner tuners and the slight overhang of the soundboard and back also similar to what is found in the viol family.

The instrument is played resting perpendicularly on one’s lap, fretted with the left hand and strummed with the right. Interestingly, the arches of the mahogany that support the fingerboard seem to transmit sound to the nearest part of the soundboard when fretted in different places along the neck. As a result, when you play it the sound seems to move as you play higher or lower on the instrument. Fully acoustic surround sound!