Reasons NOT To Get a Chromatic
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
It's too bad that this conversation, which started with such a reasonable question (even if it demands a parallel conversation on reasons to get a chromatic) has descended into a series of diatribes in which people offer differing definitions of an instrument that has been innovative and evolving for its entire history. None of this has anything to do with the original question.
Yes, as Nate says, "qualifiers."
There are guitars, 12-string guitars, solid-body electric guitars, tenor guitars, baritone guitars, etc.
There are dulcimers, baritone dulcimers, octave dulcimers, chromatic dulcimers, electric dulcimers, etc.
No controversy needed.
The dulcimer is a young instrument. For its entire history, it has been evolving. Those first dulcimers had frets only under the melody string. Does that mean that dulcimers with strings across the fretboard are not dulcimers? Those first dulcimers also used friction tuners. Does that mean dulcimers with mechanical tuners are not dulcimers? Those first dulcimers were likely made solely of local hardwoods. Does that mean a dulcimer with a redwood top is not a real dulcimer? Any effort to define a dulcimer by a limited number of construction characteristics is random and denies the long history of creative innovation among dulcimer builders and players.
The Jean Ritchie model dulcimer (made in that great Appalachian state of California!) has a Honduras mahogany fingerboard, rosewood overlay, ebony nut and saddle, mechanical tuners, and a 6-1/2 fret. Those first dulcimers on which Jean learned had none of those elements, yet she recognized that they improved the instrument and supported them. The rest of us might do the same.
Depending on style of play and repertoire, one instrument may suit over another. 
