Barbara, my baritone dulcimette is about 28.5" long and 7" wide at its widest along the lower bout.  If your local music store is worth anything, they might be able to order a viola case from one of their suppliers. You could then bring in your Ginger and determine whether it would fit or not. If not, they should be able to return it no problem.  It's worth talking to them.

You will have to adjust the inside of the case to adapt it to the dulcimer, but you should be able to see how to do that when you see them both together.

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Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

Thanks for the tips, Dusty, and for the picture of your viola case adapted for a dulcimer.  It looks like neither bout of the Ginger would be wider than the widest part of the Ewing baritone.  The measurements of my instrument are length= 29 5/8 inches + 3/8 inch for the strap button, 5 3/8 " for the upper bout and 7 1/8" for the lower bout.  The only music store here in Juneau is definitely a guitar and ukulele shop, mostly staffed by wannabe rock musicians; however we do have a symphony orchestra and a junior symphony.  I will call the arts council on Monday and see if I can hook up with a viola player through them.  If that doesn't work, I will see how I can do with the measurements and visuals and order something through Amazon. I hope to get a case ready before heading the the Menucah festival in Oregon in April.   Thank you for the helpful advice.  

Barbara Berg
Juneau, Alaska

"Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering." --Haruki Murakami

 

Hi Barbara. I used a viola case for my baritone dulcimette by Ron Ewing. It is about the same length as a Ginger.  You can see a picture here .  I just cut away the part of the case that holds up the neck.  I didn't do a particularly good job, but the case works really well.  It's small enough to easily fit in the overhead compartment of airplanes and the hardshell case offers peace of mind.

I suggest taking your Ginger into a music store, not a Guitar Center but a store that deals with a variety of instruments such as those that serve school orchestras.  The will have lots of types of cases to check out.

There are also gun cases with customizable foam that could be form fitted around your dulcimer, but TSA would definitely notice those!

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie
updated by @dusty: 01/30/19 09:00:39PM

I have been playing a McSpadden Ginger for five years, and I love it. It fits my small hands perfectly and has a wonderful sound. When I need to fly with it, a necessity when I go to a festival or event in the "Lower 48,"(I live in Alaska) I am very nervous about guarding it in the overhead bins. I would really like to find a rigid case for it.  I called McSpadden hoping that they would know of a hard-sided case that would fit, but they did not.  I would prefer finding a case that was obviously for a musical instrument in order to avoid endless explanations with the airlines and TSA.  I am also not eager to use a homemade wooden case that would be unwieldy to carry through airports. Somewhere I read that a standard viola case would fit a short-scale mountain dulcimer if the padding inside were modified to a dulcimer shape.  Has anyone else tried this?