Introduce Yourself!
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Shootrj2003 -- If you want a "true" dulcimer dating to 1840s there are a bare handful of photos of originals. "True" in this case means having a central raised fretboard -- a major distinguishing characteristic which separates dulcimers from the ancestral Fretted Zithers of the Pennsylvania "Dutch" -- Germans -- who were there in PA long before 1800.
The fretted zither plays basically the same as a dulcimer, but has a very low "staple board" on the straight near side of the body. The photo shows a replica of one which I built from dimensions and photos supplied by the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA. The instrument I replicated was made by a man named Jacob Gross, who built it sometime before 1865. It has a traditional diatonic fret spacing, three strings, the VSL is 24", overall dimensions 4" wide and 37" long and a maximum of 3.5" high. John and several other of our Traditional builders saw and played my replica at a Traditional Dulcemore Gathering we held in Kentucky a few years ago.