Mountain Dulcimer
I built this mountain dulcimer in September 2003. When I started I had no experience building stringed instruments or playing mountain dulcimers. Through the Summer of 2003 I had been looking for a good opportunity to try my hand at building a musical instrument. Originally my goal was to build an acoustic guitar. I read many websites, skimmed a book and looked at several kits. While looking for guitar kits I stumbled across the mountain dulcimer, which was an instrument I had never heard of before. After learning more about the instrument -- how to play it and what it sounds like -- I decided it would be a good introduction to musical instrument building.
This photo shows the wood parts included in the kit. The soundbox was already assembled, fretboard was attached and frets were installed. The separate pieces are the peghead which was already shaped and the holes were drilled for installing the tuners and the bridge and nut which were pre-slotted. The good news was that most of the work that was critical to completing a playable instrument was already done and done correctly. The bad news was I wouldn't get much experience with the parts I thought would be the most challenging and the soundholes were already cut which meant one less opportunity to personalize the instrument. Despite all the work that was done there was still plenty left to do.
Completing the kit involved these steps:
This is the finished instrument. I was happy with how the instrument turned out. While the learning experience wasn't as deep as I had originally hoped it was still a great way to learn about some of the work involved in building a complete instrument.
View all the photos here: Mountain Dulcimer Set
This photo shows the wood parts included in the kit. The soundbox was already assembled, fretboard was attached and frets were installed. The separate pieces are the peghead which was already shaped and the holes were drilled for installing the tuners and the bridge and nut which were pre-slotted. The good news was that most of the work that was critical to completing a playable instrument was already done and done correctly. The bad news was I wouldn't get much experience with the parts I thought would be the most challenging and the soundholes were already cut which meant one less opportunity to personalize the instrument. Despite all the work that was done there was still plenty left to do.Completing the kit involved these steps:
- Rough sand the parts for final shaping -- the top and back of the soundbox had a small amount of overhang past the sides which neede to be removed. The peghead had some rough edges.
- Glue the wood pieces together.
- Sand the entire instrument to prepare it for finishing.
- Finish with tung oil and paste wax.
- Install tuners and strings.
- Tune
- Learn how to play
This is the finished instrument. I was happy with how the instrument turned out. While the learning experience wasn't as deep as I had originally hoped it was still a great way to learn about some of the work involved in building a complete instrument.View all the photos here: Mountain Dulcimer Set
posted by James at 12:03 PM
1 Comments:
Hi there! congratz for the post!
I'm would like to start doing etnic instruments for hobby! i'm reading about several instruments across the web but its hard to get some plants. do you have any advice for beguiners? the Norwegian LANGELEIK seems to be a nice instrument to start it... best regardz!!
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