I enjoy seeing the responses, folks!
Playing mountain dulcimer with a noter is all I know-- I enjoy it tremendously! And there are MD players who play styles of music I enjoy yet could never hope to play. If a chromatic mountain dulcimer is what is called for to play the music a dulcimer player wants to make, then a chromatic fretboard it must be! :)
The mountain dulcimer and the guitar have very different timbres. Some music, music requiring "extra frets", can sound wonderful, more intimate on mountain dulcimer (as opposed to, say, guitar).
For centuries, luthiers and musicians have adapted instruments and styles of play for any number of reasons. And chromatic mountain dulcimers exist in this living tradition.
This film clip is outstanding:
I hope to get to see the movie after it's released!
I, too, wish I could make it!
@Sharon-Day Great question! I know what songs I've sung to/with a little niece or nephew yet have no clue what songs kindergarteners today know.
It looks cool, John, and I bet I could get plenty of tunes out of the little critter.
I met Ruth in '09 at Ken Bloom's Pilot Mountain Bowed Dulcimer fest. She was generous, gracious, a prolific knitter, and all-around good gal! Ken called her Saint Ruth for her work transcribing his chicken scratching on paper to music. Ruth was a treasure.
That sure is a pretty instrument-- happy strumming!
Though I'm a by-ear noter/drone player, I think my approach to bringing variety to practice would work for anyone no matter the style. I like to try different, really different types of picks or even fingerpicking on tunes to give variety to the sounds which can be got from a single tune. It may not be to everyone's liking as an exercise, I imagine, but I also like to know the essence of a tune so well I can vary the tune slightly each time I play it through.
You've built a lovely instrument, Kusani!
Jeannie, I offer healing wishes for your health and all good wishes for the many things with what you must be dealing with. Take care.
Jeannie, I'm happy for your being able to enjoy playing music again! That MMD is gorgeous.
Whatever difficulties are ahead, my wish is for you to have strength to meet them.
I've done a bit of looking in Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer People and not found a maker working under that label name.
I probably have about three hundred favorites! Yet I'll name three here. :)
And Can It Be - Charles Wesley
Peace Train - Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)
Hard Times Come Again No More - Stephen Foster
David, Sally Ann looks to be studying how she's going to play with her new acquisition. :)
@david-bennett I remember that video! It's such a fun idea, I'm hoping to get somebody(s) to join Mark & me on the porch this year.
Mark your calendars, friends, for the last Saturday in August to join folks around the world heading outdoors (if possible) to make music!
I neglected to state (along with my Corian idea) that I wouldn't put the Corian on a wooden instrument. A cardboard box or a tin for a soundbox?
I'm thinking a fretboard made of a material such as Corian (used as counter material in kitchens, baths, etc.) might hold up?
@jp Perhaps those posted free tabs are not legal?
Copyright law is complicated. FOTMD makes every effort to demonstrate good faith with regard to protecting composers and holders of copyright, entities entitled to compensation for their work.
I've bowed both lap dulcimer and bowed dulcimers. . . I couldn't imagine bowing this critter. In my view, the design doesn't seem to lend itself to bowing.
Wow, Lisa, I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like this! Do you know anything about when and where it was built?
For what it's worth, I strum just to the left of the strum hollow most of the time. 
Is there, by any chance, a date on the label?
I took a look-- looks like Albert Hoffman to me.
You've got a great photo, Charles-- a treasure!
Brian and I generally get pushed off the edges and have to sleep on the cold hard floor. 
Should we start a GOFundMe page for an air mattress for you & Brian? 
Strumelia, is there really room for a human on that bed? :)
Don, something which served me well was attending several jams to observe & listen before I ever tried to play in a jam. The skill of jamming-- playing called tunes 'on the fly'-- takes time for some of us to acquire. I know it took me awhile.
Don, my guitar-playing husband says for the Keys of A, C, D, and G, especially, it is good to know the I, IV, V chords.
@maddie It sounds as though you have a treasure!
Lisa, I do not re-tune my instruments with zither pins by turning the zither pins. I think lots of re-tuning would strip-out the holes in which your pins are seated.
@irene You are a marvel! What a beautiful family!
In the poetry of James Still, he included mountain dulcimers sometimes. As I recall, Mr. Still lived for some years in the Amburgey cabin and worked at Hindman Settlement School in Kentucky. I highly recommend his writings!
I'm ate-up by mountain dulcimer. My husband is ate-up by guitar. I think mountain dulcimer can be an acquired taste. I've forced my husband to acquire a taste. 
