A completely illustrated book of assembly instructions is included to guide you in your venture. The mountain dulcimer remains a popular instrument in folk and dance music of the mountains. The book begins with some exercises and tips on how to learn the tunes, pick correctly, and understand flatpicking. How dulcimer is made material, making, history, how to make, used. Brett ridgeways flatpicked mountain dulcimer arrangements. Also contains instructions on building hammers, two kinds of stand, and templates for the pin blocks, bridges, soundhole and hammers. Building dulcimers is a great family project, parentchild project.
Guide to building an appalachian dulcimer mountain dulcimer, mountain music. First the ends of the sides are trimmed so that they meet the scrollhead and tailpiece while lying along the outline drawn on the back. Constructing the mountain dulcimer internet archive. The sides, back and headstock is cherry, the top is thingrained mahogany, all solidwood.
My favorite book on dulcimer building is entitled constructing the mountain dulcimer by dean kimball, and its available from. Since 2010 lois has produced dulcimerville events at the beautiful blue ridge assembly in black mountain, nc. Construction consists of two piece book matched top, back, and sides, as well as inlaid fretboards and headstocks. Mailing address cedar creek dulcimers 408 river bluff dr. Thank you for purchasing this woodworkers journal classic project plan. Spiced with humor, anne dodsons field guide to the mountain dulcimer, book 1 is a beautifully structured and organized guide, taking the beginning student stepbystep through a wellplanned sequence of lessons.
Considering it was my first attempt, im pretty happy with the results. This basic mountain dulcimer lesson is for people who have yet to meet the appalachian mountain dulcimer or who might enjoy an introduction to the playing st. Gallier dulcimers are on the forefront of this innovation, not in just the way they look. Mountain dulcimer instruction all products all downloads aaron orourke bing futch mandy tyner melanie johnston neal walters richard ash stephen seifert sort by best selling alphabetically, az alphabetically, za price, low to high price, high to low date, old to new date, new to old. Each dulcimer can be strung for either a left handed or a right handed player. All dan doty dulcimers are quality made with attention to every detail. The teardrop shape has a flat peghead and the hourglass shape has a scroll. It explains scales, modes, tunings, playing techniques, 53 songs in tablature and musical notation and pretty much anything you can think of to include in a dulcimer book.
Unbranded 3 string mountain dulcimer, 4leaf clover soundholes nice vintage inst. I was captivated by the music and culture of appalachia after a summer volunteer experience in harlan, kentucky. This books lessons, exercises, and songs gradually add to the students skills. I built my first dulcimers back in the 1980s and 90s. This book covers tools, materials, resources and suppliers. Browse our selection of mountain dulcimer tablature and music books.
Constructing the mountain dulcimer by dean kimball, 1975, isbn 0679202854, library of congress catalog card number is 746536, published by crying creek publishers, po box 8, highway 32, cosby, tn, 37722. See more ideas about mountain dulcimer, dulcimer music and mountain music. The best beginner book that i like is welcome to the mountain dulcimer. Bob gerard dulcimers heirloom quality mountain dulcimers. Building a teardrop shaped mountain dulcimer bob gerard. Hourglass mountain dulcimer kit assembly instructions musicmakers 14525 61st st ct n stillwater, mn 55082 wood parts a solid wood top b solid wood back c fretboard d 2 end blocks e 1 peghead f 2 sides g 2 braces for back 1 long, 1 short h 3 spacers hardware 4 geared tuners with screws set of 4 ball end dulcimer strings 1 wood screw, 2. Enough said, get a copy of this book if youre into appalachianmountain dulcimer constructionor just interested in musical instrument construction.
Building a dulcimer by preston woodruff brevard, nc click on any picture to see a larger version. Dulcimer wall hangers in a variety of styles for both scroll head and guitar style head to display your dulcimer. The walnut classic shares the same dimensions as the cedar creek but features all solid wood construction. Dulcimer accessoriess ron gibson mountain dulcimers. Along with the design, it is also a dulcimer of good quality. Mountain dulcimer accessories craggy mountain music. D i have had five students use this book and all love it. Crying creek publishers, po box 8, hwy 32, cosby, tn 37722 this book will be most useful to those with some woodworking experience, as the author recommends building some fairly elaborate forms and jigs to aid in. The appalachian dulcimer or dulcimore is generally hourglassshaped with. Design of a dulcimer begins with making a pattern and selecting the size of the instrument. After thumbing through larkins dulcimer book and the magic dulcimer and you can teach yourself dulcimer, i selected the latter. If what you see here at the bear meadow website inspires you to build dulcimers of the.
Coming back home i researched the instrument and got a hold of a book on how to build. Constructing the mountain dulcimer hardcover january 1, 1975 by dean kimball author. The online dulcimer shop 401 lotis way louisville, ky, 40207 usa. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our. All you have to provide is glue, sandpaper, finish, a few simple tools, and 1520 hours of loving labor. Black friday apple creek dulcimer music book for the beginner book from. The bookmatched walnut back and sides add even more depth and balance to the stereo sound of the cedar creek. Look here if you are after details of how i get a specific job done.
A comprehensive handbook for building the dulcimer accessrestricteditem true addeddate 201003 15. Mountain dulcimers accessories cedar creek dulcimers. Start by marking the dulcimer book as want to read. Opinion on the best beginner books to start with forums. This was when i saw and heard my first mountain dulcimer. This dulcimer model is bringing the appalachian mountain. This book is published under a creative commons license. The book is suppose to give enough information to build a dulcimer. That is the reason we build them with big sound so that they may take their rightful place when played solo or with accompanying instruments. My tiny reservoir of knowledge about my new mountain dulcimer is steadily growing, and the things that jean ritchie had to say in this book. Building a mountain dulcimer bear meadow dulcimers.
There are two kinds of instruments commonly called dulcimer here in the u. Building a jig for constructing an hourglass mountain dulcimer. This book, by mark biggs the three time winner of the national mountain dulcimer championship is probably the most comprehensive book on the mountain dulcimer available. The book is more than a collection of songs it provides detailed written and audio instruction on how to play arpeggios on the mountain dulcimer. There are quite a number of makers who will sell you a kit, with the sides already bent and the. A variety of dulcimer cases in both soft style and hardshell to fit different sizes. Here are a series of photographs on the building of a mountain dulcimer.
This particular instrument was a special project for a singersongwriter and mountain dulcimer player. Friendly and encouraging, book 1 covers tips on buying and maintaining the instrument, left and right hand techniques, chords, and accompaniment. Book of 50 favorite hymns includes hymns from johns new old hymns book, some requiring a 1 12 fret or capo and all in dad. Ray told me, if i can spend an hour or two making music, its a good day. This is a kit version of our walnut classic mountain dulcimer. Mountain dulcimer looks more like a guitar often hourglassshaped and is played by fretting and strumming the strings. The model can be downloaded at additional information about the tools and comments from others. Shapes, ornamentation, choice of woods the maker has a lot of flexibility with dulcimers. Hammered dulcimer anatomy a hammered dulcimer is usually set up on some sort of stand or leg, with the strings facing up and the. This is the best of three books that i purchased to learn the dulcimer. In the meantime, here are some resources on the topic of building gathered from folks on the sweet music email list.
Our dulcimers also feature a onehalf step fret located in the lower and upper octaves. Provides easytofollow, stepbystep instructions on the construction of a 1514 floating soundboard hammered dulcimer. The mountain dulcimer is a beautiful, sweetsounding stringed instrument that developed in the appalachian mountains in the 18th and 19th centuries. The starsong mountain, or fretted dulcimers are in an era of evolution, with much experimentation in design and construction being the norm rather than the exception. The workbook consists of 17 song arrangements and 15 arpeggio exercises which build the skills necessary to play beautiful slow and melodic music on the dulcimer.
This is footage i captured while building my appalachian mountain dulcimer. Woodworkers journal classic projects are scans of muchloved woodworking plans from our. Also the drawings were unreadable even with a magnifying glass. The hammered dulcimer is familiar in the british isles as a dulcimer and in a different form in ireland as the tiompan. Kits for building mountain dulcimers are widely available. Capos which come in a variety of woods to compliment your dulcimer wood. In the middle east and india its called a santoor or santouri. There is a string slot cut into the fretboard for anchoring the strings. Johnson fi220 lap dulcimer is a very well designed dulcimer model from johnson as it has decorative heartshaped sound holes on the body.
Beginners guide to hammered dulcimers dusty strings. Right now im finishing two dulcimers that are an homage to m. The book is filled with encouraging and practical advice on every facet of learning to play the dulcimer, starting with the very basics and building on the positive results you are certain to achieve very quickly. Each tune can be played as written with hammerons, pulloffs, and slides, or simply ignore those techniques and pick it straight. Kits archives dulcimer shoppe online store dulcimer ar.
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