Dulcimer

​

I took a two day Dulcimer making course in Nottingham forest (Greenwood days) and the images here were my record of the stages involved.  It was a very enjoyable two days - there were only three of us and the tutor in a clearing with no power tools,electric or running water.  This limited the techniques we could use but the final product was a very functional instrument.

​

For ease of construction in many projects, it is necessary first to construct jigs.

​

In this case, a base jig is built using thick ply, slightly larger than the finished dulcimer with nails around the outside (see later) that is mounted on a piece of wood that makes it easy to clamp to a vice. This jig can be seen in the first image. Two pieces of birch ply were cut and clamped at one end as shown.

​

The centre of the sound board is opened up using a central piece and natural springiness of the ply defines the curve.

Bending the birch ply sides.  Once the glue had set, thin stringers were glued to the top and bottom edges simply to provide a wider surface for the top and bottom to be glued on. The only tool used here was a sharp craft knife.

Attaching the scroll head. 

​

Planning the sound holes.  Any open shape is good but needs to be able to be cut with craft knife. 

The sides were then placed on birch ply and the shape drawn with a pencil.The shapes were cut out with a craft knife leaving a little extra for shaping after they had been glued to the sides. Two sound holes were then designed, drawn on the top and cut out. Simple designs that could be cut with a craft knife were encouraged.  The top and bottom were then glued on - see image below for the clamping arrangements. 

​

Gluing top and bottom.  Lots of strong elastic bands

 

There were some compromises made for example a typical mountain dulcimer has a figure of 8 shape normally but this would have been difficult to achieve in the circumstance where the tools in the forest environment were limited.

The image below shows the parts of a typical mountain dulcimer, the shape and size vary.  In the two day course it was not possible to build one with an 8 shape because of the time it would take to steam bend the sides. The woods used also can vary - in my own situation the sound box was constructed using 1/4 inch birch ply, the fretboard is made of mahogany, the head constructed of American walnut and the top nut and bridge of blackwood. Mountain dulcimers are also known as Appalachian or lap dulcimers.