Several of the members here (including me) specialize in reproducing old dulcimers. They are very different than the ones you see and hear today. Some make replicas of certain historic builder's dulcimers, while others make replicas of other builders' work. And some now make dulcimers inspired by the old ones, but with original twists to the designs.
I’m a new CGB guy,so new I haven’t finished building my instrument to learn to play on.I do have wood and metalwork skills ,previously having built flintlock,percussion rifles of traditional style1830’s and 1840 ish.I was wish to insert a pic of 1.8 mb but it’s not allowing me even though it’s under 2.0 mb?sorry.
Some 1840's Black Powder rifle shooters are very interested in matching all of their accouterments to a specific era - thus rifle, kit, clothing, instrument must all be historically consistent. This can be difficult with instruments. I have dozens of pictures of homemade guitars and mandolins and fiddles but they all date much later than 1840. You cannot argue the existence because the photos prove that they existed. But they mostly date to 1900 or later based on the other stuff in the photo. The Museum of Appalachia has an amazing room full of homemade instruments, but, again, way newer than the 1840's.
I made a 1920's cigar box ukulele using the oldest cigar box I could find (~1964) and all American-grown wood. I even carved tuning pegs of maple from a 100-year old floor. But I cheated and used commercial frets to make it playable. It was too much work to be an ornament, and I doubted my ability to make good frets.
Ooops, I Googled CGB, but got CBG. Maybe it is a tuning for a lower voice, aeolian mode.
I would have guessed that it was a tuning, one full step down from DAC, but I Googled it.
Turns out is is "Cigar Box Dulcimer." that is an instrument with a rectangular box body and a neck. It is not a dulcimer, by our standards. And the body is probably not a real cigar box.
Dumb question maybe, but what is CGB?
What an amazing body of work you and Wayne have produced.
I’m a new CGB guy,so new I haven’t finished building my instrument to learn to play on.I do have wood and metalwork skills ,previously having built flintlock,percussion rifles of traditional style1830’s and 1840 ish.I was wish to insert a pic of 1.8 mb but it’s not allowing me even though it’s under 2.0 mb?sorry.
Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 60
The End
This is the final Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast episode. Thanks to David Massengill for taking us out with On The Road to Fairfax County.
https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/060.html
Thanks for listening!
Patricia Delich & Wayne Jiang
I recently acquired what I believe is an all walnut Davis kit dulcimer. 5 strings, peg tuners, 14 -1/16 inch from nut to 7th fret. floating bridge, no tag, name date etc. It was put together very well, good joints and finish . I wish to add a 6 1/2 fret. My problem can be shown with the comparison chart I have attached showing calculated locations for JI, EqI , measured with a tape then with a 24" digital caliper. I have run the calculations from 27 to 28 1/2 " and nothing matches, but when tuned to DAd, it is good on the electronic strobe tuner and sounds ok with my other dulcimers. I can locate the 6 1/2 fret by ear but am wondering how these frets can be vary so much yet still be in tune with equal method calculations. Any thoughts or comments?
Hi! Welcome to this musical crowd, ShootRJ! We've got a lot happening on this site, as you can see!
Hello everyone,I am admittedly a cgb guy but I do like dulcimers and any of the various homemade and earthy “ mountain and folk instruments.
Another issue in making such a chart would be defining what constitutes a dulcimer builder. In some families nearly every son either assisted his father in dulcimer making or made a single dulcimer before losing interest. Other dulcimer makers made multiple dulcimers and taught others how to build the instruments.
The lack of surviving instruments attributed to those recalled in oral history as dulcimer builders makes one question who did and did not build dulcimers. The Hicks family is a good example. Several members of the Hicks family were said to have made dulcimers: Ben Hicks, Roby Hicks, Nathan Hicks, Stanley Hicks, Floyd Hicks, Windsor Canada Hicks, James Brownlow Hicks, Edd Presnell, and Frank Proffitt.
But Ben Hicks had two sons: Nathan Hicks and Samuel Hicks. Nathan Hicks was clearly a dulcimer builder, but what about his brother, Samuel Hicks. Did he learn how to make dulcimers?
There is also some question as to who made the dulcimers sold by Nathan in the 1930s and 1940s. Obviously, Nathan made most of the dulcimers attributed to him. But oral history suggests that his father, Ben Hicks; his uncle, Roby Hicks, his first cousin, Windsor Canada Hicks, and possibly others helped him fulfill orders.
The evidence suggests the number of dulcimer builders making more than a handful of instruments was quite small. And the number of surviving instruments can be attributed to a small number of builders. But there were many more dulcimer builders who built only a single or limited number of dulcimers.
OK, sir, them's yer marchin' orders! (Just kidding).
I've got the relationships for most of the Watauga County, NC dulcimer makers, but there are so many marriages of first cousins, the chart becomes too complex as the same names repeat in multiple family surnames. All of the well-known names can be traced through marriage or birth to the family of James Presnell and Susan Hartzel Benfield. Suffice to say, all the Presnells, Hicks, Glenns, Harmons, and even a number of Proffitts and Testers are related in some way.
Due to the large number of names it would take multiple charts to even begin a complete listing. And that's just for the NC dulcimer makers.
I think it would be interesting if somebody (not me) made a chart linking known, historic dulcimer-building-family members. There would be Glenns, Hicks, Presnells, Proffitts, Meltons, Russells, Mawhees, Graves, etc. included, with dozens more, I would guess. Just a little project to pass the time away...
Any relation to Dan Hicks who is so awesome?
You look as though you haven't aged a day, JP. 
hello its me jp...anyone remember me? its been 5 years .. i gotta email from you guys today about an old post... so i thought i would stop by and see if i could help the poster... and now i find myself looking around again ... lost all motivation on things it is a sorry thing ....
so anyway hello again
jp
Just a note, not "all" employees are recovering...
Thank you for sharing, what a great program.
https://troublesomecreekguitars.com/
Thanks Robin for posting this.
They did mention dulcimers and student luthiers building dulcimers.
Hi friends. We are doing this beautiful piece in church. I need a dulcimer arrangement.
Thanks
You're welcome.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ken,
I want to thank you for the Sunhearth brochures and information on Walter Martin.
ErthLing, I built a chromatic dulcimer for a customer and was quite excited about the project because it gave me a chance to explore the possibilities before I shipped it. But after playing diatonic for 50 years I found the extra frets a distraction. But give it a try. A lot depends on the type of music you want to play... Robert.
And, Robert, you may have noticed your fretwire supply dwindling twice as fast as usual! I've built just 2 chromatics and started getting anxious about having enough fretwire to finish the projects!
ErthLing, I built a chromatic dulcimer for a customer and was quite excited about the project because it gave me a chance to explore the possibilities before I shipped it. But after playing diatonic for 50 years I found the extra frets a distraction. But give it a try. A lot depends on the type of music you want to play... Robert.
Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 59
Dulcimer Originals
In this episode we’re playing originals composed and performed on the mountain dulcimer by the artists themselves. You’ll be hearing music from dulcimer players Gary Gallier, Leo Kretzner, Mary Giger, Aubrey Atwater, Neal Walters, Christine Shoemaker, Holly Tannen, and Ken Bloom.
You can listen to all of the Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast episodes directly on our website: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Here's the resource page for this episode: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/059.html
Thanks for listening!
Patricia Delich & Wayne Jiang
Yikes! What year was that?
Yikes! What year was that?
Hi everyone
People send me things 
and I thought you might like to take a peek and see whom you can find!
If I get a Chromatic Dulcimer can I play it the same as a diatonic by just ignoring the extra frets?"
Bing Futch has a great book on Chromatic Dulcimer. Be aware he does include a lot of music theory information and counts frets chromatically versus referring to the diatonic numbering. Erin Mae has a lot of good chromatic references and usually provides sheet music with diatonic fret numbering as well as chromatic fret numbering in chromatic workshops
. Sam Edelston does this also - thanks, Sam!
Method for Chromatic Mountain Dulcimer (Book by Bing Futch) – Folkcraft Instruments
Private Music Teacher | Erin Mae Music
If I get a Chromatic Dulcimer can I play it the same as a diatonic by just ignoring the extra frets?"
Yes.
