My wife, Norma, happily bought two dulcimers from Don Gardner, and others here in Morgantown have also done so through his website.

He customized each dulcimer from stock parts, giving the buyer a nice range of choices. They played well, and he readily handled problems like shipping damage. They were modestly priced. He sold at festivals in Ohio as well as on line.

Yesterday at PattyFest there was a workshop on buying dulcimers, and his name was not on the list of makers. This morning I tried looking up his website and could not find it. He also made banjos, and posts on a banjo website suggest that his website might have disappeared in February 2026. 

A web search suggests that he is still alive, and 79 years old. He may have closed his business.