I just went to Cedar Creek's website, and they list sassafras as an available soundboard wood.
Could be that. Does it seem like dense, heavy wood or is it lighter? Sassafras is relatively soft and light.
George, you sit on one end of a long thin plywood paddle, put a dowel in the hole to hold the puppet, and hold it so that the feet just touch the paddle. Now you go to thumping the paddle, and the feet of the puppet go flying, and the arms flip back and forth. Talented folks can beat a rhythm to the song being played by another, and the puppet will appear to dance along with it in a comical way. It's a lot of fun, especially for young kids.
Hi, Tom! Welcome to the site.
It would help if we knew what kind (or make) of dulcimer you have and what tuning you'd prefer, but a good starting point would be a set by C. F. Martin, D'Addario or GHS. The strings tend to be plain steel (.012" - .014") and wound steel (.022" - .024").
There is some sad news from New York. Legendary luthier Dennis Dorogi, 82, passed away Tuesday night at his home in Brocton. Here is a link to the funeral home in charge of the family arrangements:
http://themorsefuneralhome.com/obituaries/
George, put on your swim trunks, pinch your nose and jump in! Fortune has smiled upon you, my son...
Foxfire 11. Finally assembled the whole set a couple years ago.
Of course we all know what's in Foxfire 3.... and Foxfire 12. Don't we???
It looks like cherry in these photos, but it could be walnut with reddish lighting when the photos were taken.
Cherry looks deep orange or orange-red, and sometimes has small black "pitch pockets" here and there in the wood.
Walnut usually shows more grain, and can be medium- to chocolate-brown in color.
Bill Davis made kits for this style. I know, because I helped a lady repair hers. The head on his was different though-- it had chip carving on the sides of the scroll, and the end was larger. Too bad there's no label in it. Chet Hines wrote a book on how to build a "masterpiece dulcimore" like this.
Jennifer, she's a beaut! Looks like a Mike Clemmer ("Wood 'N' Strings", Townsend, TN) from here. If so, snap it up!
Bill Davis from Gatlinburg, TN and Jean Schilling from Cosby, TN popularized that particular style, with its violin shape, its 5 strings and its large size.
Baltic birch plywood is of very high quality, and I've used it a couple of times with great results. It's relatively expensive. I got mine at my local Woodcraft store.
Solid wood and plywood can weigh about the same. If you can see the edge, you can see the plys in plywood.
Plywood in a dulcimer is not always a bad thing, except in cases of the use of inferior pieces of cheap plywood.
It's cool, and it looks pretty old, but using the guitar-style frets is a relatively modern twist. Looks like a few frets are missing from their slots.
Maybe the restaurant manager will let you carefully remove it to try it out? They probably stuck it to the wall with screws driven through the soundholes.
That's how an old John Maxwell dulcimer was attached to the wall of a T.G.I.Friday's, before they tore it off and sold the wrecked dulcimer on eBay. I won it, and carefully reglued the splinters back together. I should think somebody would have had the sense to look for screws attaching it to the wall...
George, it looks like kind of a rough job to me, not from a well-known maker. The overall form is chunkier than that of the luthiers you mention.
I don't see a close resemblance to any others I've encountered. I would guess a hobbyist made it.
Ken, it looks like "Uncle Eddie" came out of the display window for a personal appearance at the Homecoming.
Did you all get to play it or anything?
Thanks for the great article, Ken. I wish I could have joined you all this year.
So sorry to hear the sad news, John Henry. May God hold you and your family in His loving hands at this time of grief.
Ruth, the oldest dulcimers have come from Virginia, and they had no strum hollow, but they did have soundholes in the fretboard.
And a few had soundholes in the back as well. They were a separate tradition from the Kentucky-style dulcimers that are prevalent now.
'Twould seem to me that if it IS a real Presnell dulcimer, it would not be anonymous, but have a label inside it to identify things. The Presnells usually marked their products, didn't they? And one might check with The Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Brevard, NC. They're still in business, and have a craft/gift shop as well.
Looks to be in the style of Gatlinburg's Bill Davis or Townsend's Mike Clemmer. Maybe Baxter Presnell made one like this?
Or another Presnell altogether. There's lots of them in that part of North Carolina. Also lots of Hicks', Harmons, Glenns, etc.
Pretty KEEN, Patty...
Last Monday, Alex Trebek talked to the returning champion Annie Busiek about her hobbies. He mentioned that she raises hot peppers, but Annie added that she liked mild things too, like playing her mountain dulcimer.
Stewart, thank you so much for posting this link!
I've never seen Warren's shop, even though I've visited him regularly for over 30 years.
It's fascinating to see how he figures out his dulcimer-building fixtures.
Hey, I BUILD them, and I only have about 6! Some of which can't easily be played, either...
To paraphrase the Mad Hatter, "I keep them to sell".
Lisa, you can enjoy playing one of these old-timey, single-peg dulcimers yourself. I know a guy...
I have not had any problems buying online from eBay sellers. The items and descriptions were fine, and they all arrived in good shape.
That's the $100,000 question, George. Fine dulcimers made by known builders have recognized value in the marketplace, but sometimes they're not set-up the way we would prefer them to be set-up. So the question becomes "Do I change things and ruin the recognized value (but be able to play them as I wish), or do I leave them as-is, and not want to play them?" You indeed may want to (or need to) sell them at some future date.
Years ago I found a Warren A. May poplar dulcimer on eBay, selling for an attractive price. I won the auction, and when the dulcimer arrived, I found that it sounded odd to me at the low end. The first fret sounded way off, so I considered changing its position. Then I ran into the same quandary that you find yourself in now. Incidentally, I inadvertently ruined that dulcimer's fine lacquer finish by taking the very cold dulcimer out of the box in a warm room. The finish crazed instantly! The good news is that I resold it on eBay (for a higher price!) to a person who didn't mind the crazed finish.
Or is it perhaps from "The Dulcimer Shoppe" in Mountain View, Ark.?
George,
The issues involved are: Can you get the correct size of fret wire?
Do you know the exact position to place the new fret?
Can you accurately cut a new slot there, of the proper width?
Can you hammer it in, trim the ends, and level it to the other frets?
If you can answer "yes" to all of the above, go for it!
Go to any Guitar Center or Radio Shack or Best Buy store, and they will have something you can use.
I thought of Cripple Creek too, because of the soundholes. But they would have marked it, I'm sure.
I'm proud to know you, buddy! Now we've both gotten some ink regarding our unusual craft activities!
That's a great article, and Nicole seems to have presented the facts properly-- something that is rare to see.
Congratulations.
I vote for sycamore. My Noah's Ark dulcimer is sycamore, and the color and figure look just like that. Almost a fur-like appearance.
Very sorry to hear this sad news. May God comfort his family and friends.
I just want to bring a little joy to people's lives by playing at church or at home once in a while. No big aspirations here. And I like to supply others with the equipment needed to do the same in their own lives. The instrument's history and traditions are what interest me most, not so much the playing.
Noah, it could be fretted in another temperament other than the equal-temperament that most modern dulcimers have. It could have been designed to play in one particular tuning, or to play only in the noter/drone style. There are discussions on this site regarding this issue. By no means should you consider the fretting pattern a defect in building. You may want to check into this here, or at Everything Dulcimer. Best wishes in your research.
There's always the lightweight fiberglass gun case route you could take.
They're about the right size and shape, once you pad the inside to suit.
It's just that you might get some interested looks from airport security if you try to bring one on a plane... 
