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Location: Clinton, TN
Country: US
Country: US
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Thanks AndyYes, I posted a video of Aura Lee among the videos on this website.Dave
LisaI've built several dulcimers from kits but I always wanted to build a dulcimer from scratch, so the box dulcimer is my first dulcimer from scratch. I used the fret spacing arrangement from one of my McSpadden dulcimers. The back and sides are quarter inch thick oak boards I obtained from a local store. The headpiece and tailpiece are 1x2" oak boards from the same store. The top is sitka spruce I obtained from a luthier supply house. The fretboard is made of two pieces of oak. I took a solid board (base of the fretboard) and cut it out entirely under the fretboard area to about 3/8" thick on the sides leaving solid pieces on the ends for the strum hollow and pin/tuner areas. Then the fretboard was glued on top. The fretboard is extra tall because I was thinking of attaching a pick-up near the bridge. The bridge is made of bone and the nut is delrin just after the 0 fret (another design I carried over from my McSpadden dulcimer). I fashioned brass for the hitchpin and tuner areas to be symbolic to the metal on the Tennessee Music Boxes (TMB's), but I think the brass also adds strength and looks better than the end grain of the wood. The tuners are on the bottom of the instrument same as the TMB's. I used Teak oil for a finish since I like to see the grain of the wood.The dulcimer has a big sound, maybe because of thick oak boards, the size of the soundbox, and the hollowed out fret board. So far I think it sounds best tuned DAA noter style. I also like it for just playing chords when playing along with other dulcimers.ThanksDave
Nice, Dave. Did you build it? What's the wood used?