Rick Probst

Rick you'll notice in the "I'm now following you" section, my avater holding up one of my most favored instruments, yes one made by you.  Well as situations arise, I was forced to sell that when that was the last thing I wanted to do.  I'm now in a more secure position and would love to commission you to build me yet another Probst dulcimer.  I'm not really picky about woods and the shape (sound holes too I guess?) would be just like the one I'm holding.  I've been trying to contact you but to no avail.  If you could please contact me via email at 5kw@sbcglobal.net we can start discussing just exactly what it is that I want.  Again all of your jigs and bindings and extras that are normally found on your instruments will be just fine.  I only had some additional ideas to make this one really mine and all efforts will be forced into play to never ever be faced with the sale of a prized instrument ever again.  Right now I'm instrumentless and will wait as long as it takes to get one of yours.  Thanks again Rick and I look forward to talking with you about this instrument.    

P.S.  Sorry rest of you all.  (new to the site and don't know how to PM someone otherwise I would have done this there.  Again my appologies, but do think when Rick is done with this instrument I will be ranting and raving about it on these pages anyway.  Then you can say...."I remember when Kevin was first trying to get ahold of Rick even before the design was finalized"  At least that's the way I'm looking at it?)

Rick, I think I found pictures of these on the Everything Dulcimer page. I assume

they are the same as the one's pictured there. I love the looks of both of them.

The maple looks especially nice, but your comments make me hesitant about

that one. You said it has more bass. I do not want too much bass, and prefer

a good balance between bass and treble. If the walnut offers a better balance,

I would be inclined to go with that one.

Hollis

Rick, I have found cherry to be a very nice tone wood for dulcimers and harps. Can

you send me pix of your maple and walnut dulcimers? Thanks again.

Hollis

Thanks for all the info, Rick. I am looking for a well balanced sound, not too bassywith a fat treble, and with no loss of volume on the upper octave. From what you describe, the maple model may be too bassy for me because of the greater depth. What were the woods used in the baritone sound sample you sent? That seemed to have a good balance.

Also, what is your build time, and what is your price for a standard model?

Hollis

So the scale length is the same for the baritone or standard, just different string

gauges. BTW, what is the scale on your dulcimers?

I was referring to the sound hole in the lower bout, but that is interesting about the upper bout. I noticed one of your dulcimershas an f-hole design in the lower bout rather than an open hole similar to guitar. That is the sound hole I meant.

Thanks for answering all these questions.

Hollis

Your dulcimers have a very nice sound. I especially like the sample of the baritone

setup. How does that differ from your standard setup? Would you say that a maple/spruce combination has a tad less bass than walnut/spruce or paduauk/spruce? I havefound that is usually the case with guitars, all other things being equal. Also,

do you notice a tonal difference in your sound hole designs (open vs closed)?

Hollis

Thanks for the reply, Rick. Your dulcimers look like they would fit my style and the type of music I play,which is primarily fingerpicking four equi strings and Celtic and

Early Music (17th century and earlier). I uploaded a sample on my page, recorded

with guitar, dulcimer, and wire harp. In particular, I am interested in using gut

or nylgut strings, and your pinless design looks like it could be used with nylgut.

I have not heard any of your instruments, so if you can point me to a sample I would appreciate it. I am looking for an instrument with clear and relatively short

sustain, like the sound of a lute. One of your maple/spruce dulcimers may work

for me. Let me know what you advise. Thanks again.

Hollis