I am thrilled that you gave your Mom her gift. You are a great Son!

I hope you and your Mom will play for us.

I couldn't wait so she got it already. Yes she likes it!!

Oh, Mark, She will be soooo tickled for two reasons: To have such a beautiful dulcimer in her lap of her very own and to have such a thoughtful son...(that she must have raised right). She will never play it without thinking of you. Happy Mother's Day...to you both!!

Aw how sweet of you. It's a beauty and I think he is brilliant to have a 7 day return policy if it's not what you want. Makes you more willing to take a chance on him. PLEASE give it to her now, by Mother's Day she'll be giving you a nice concert!

Here's how it began... A while back my Mom told me her arthritis was making guitar playing impossible and she was going to give me her old nylon string guitar. She's played most of her life and taught me to play when I was eight years old. She also asked if I could think of another instrument she could accompany herself on when she sang. I loaned her my mountain dulcimer and showed her some basic chords. She took to it right away and had no problem with her hands. She was also happy it was a period instrument and fit right in with her volunteer work at the historical village in Columbus where she does reenactments of various characters in history.

My next mission was to find a dulcimer for her. I happened to run across information on a builder from Georgia named Johnny Pledger. I liked what I read and called Mr. Pledger to talk about his instruments. We had a good conversation about the dulcimer, guitar playing , the build and playability of his instruments and I decided to place an order. If it was not what I expected I could return it within seven days.
It arrived on Monday and it's quite nice. It's northern walnut (from Wisconsin I'm told) and sitka spruce. The wood used is beautiful and finished with tung oil. Once the strings settled in it holds DAd tuning very well and plays easily. I've seen new dulcimers in shops that cost more and didn't play this well. Intonation up and down the fretboard is good as well. My own dulcimer is Koa with a mahogany top and has a darker tone, perhaps more nasal or focused on the mids if that makes sense. It does not sound as open and bright as this walnut and sikta dulcimer. Both are nice voices but they are different. I know there are lots of dulcimer builders on the forum who build fine instruments but I thought I'd give Mr. Pledger a thumbs up and a thank you. Here are a couple photos. I'm trying to keep the lid on this until Mother's Day but I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. I'm really anxious to give it to her.





One little extra I asked for was to install pins or some means of keeping the extra d string off the fretboard when it's not being used.
He installed a pair of small screws at the nut and saddle. It works great. The reverse scroll head is his design. I like it.

updated by @mark-hoskey: 06/08/16 09:24:05PM