The Revels Music site shows a good contrast between the different McSpadden kits.  The earlier ones had what McSpadden termed a "leprechaun scroll" on the end of the peghead and used Grover banjo-type pegs, while the newer models had a flat, two-piece guitar-style peghead with Gotoh-type machine tuners.

It's got a 6.5 fret slot, so it's not likely to be from before the 1970s.

Here's a couple of good online measurement descriptions of 1970s McSp kit dulcimers.

The strings should be just fine as long as they haven't spent a decade in a coastal/island salty air environment.  In the photo you posted, the top/sides/head&tailblock seem just fine.  Are the bottom planks too short?  If so, make that a sort of feature -- glue a short bit of contrasting color 1/8" plank to each end and give it a special "look".  

Thanks for the information! I was hoping that's what you guys would say . I am pretty curious what strings that old might sound like, hopefully they don't just snap. Unfortunately, during the original assembly by the person who gave it to my friend, the boards were reduced to smaller sizes than the instructions directed, as he just glued the parts together then sawed off the excess. so if will not be possible to assemble according to the directions, however this should only affect the precision of the box and hopefully it will still sound good. This definitely seems to be a dulcimer kit that has only passed through the hands of people who really didn't care one way or the other about woodwork or the instrument, and sadly I might have overlooked it a bit too long as well.
Nate

Nate, that is a real treasure. A wonderful gift to you.

Yep!   That's an oldie but a goodie. All original goodies.   As John sez, heat gun and gently pry the joints apart, let it cool and dry, and re-assemble.  Save the booklets for posterity.  Whatever's missing, I know you can make...

Nate, you have a treasure from the 1970's or so!  This is a wonderful McSpadden/The Dulcimer Shoppe kit.  If you can dis-assemble the joints carefully, and reassemble it per the directions, you'll have a dandy dulcimer.  If the glue used was Elmer's glue, or other wood glue, you might be able to warm the joints with a hair dryer or heat gun and pry them apart slowly with a knife.  Anyway, yes, this was a good-quality kit originally.  It's all as old as it looks, too!

Hello folks, a couple of years ago a friend gave me a half assembled kit dulcimer along with an instructional booklet, as well as"four & twenty" and a plastic sleeve with some strings. The booklet is made by The Dulcimer Shoppe and the strings are McSpadden brand, so the kit might be as well, but I can't say for sure. It was given to my with some of the work already done wrong, my friend tried to fix it without consulting the booklet, made it even weirder, gave up, and then had it sitting around for years until he found out I play dulcimer so he dug it up to give to me. Between some of the original pieces being lost, and the things done wrong, I still haven't gotten around to putting it together.
I'm hoping some folks here might know more about this kit and maybe just how old some of this stuff is. I cant tell if the books are just stylized to look late 70s folky or if it all might actually be that old. My friend indicated that it could be decades old, but he really had no clue beyond that. 
Thanks
Nate

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