Thanks much Lisa. I'll check out Ben's site right now.

Yes indeed, a man after my own heart! ;DConsider Ben Seymour of North Carolina. Ben is not only reasonably priced (in my opinion), but he is very into the early scheitholt reproductions and will build you just about anything you desire. Here is his website's page of 'Scheitholtesque Beauties' .Ben made my wonderful cherry Galax dulcimer and I can't recommend him highly enough. Ben also happens to be a member here on FOTMD, here is Ben's Page here on this site.


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Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

I want to buy a simple but high-quality scheitholt or dulcimer with a floating bridge or saddle. (By which I mean a bridge or saddle that's held in place by string tension alone and that's not glued or pinned to the fretboard or soundboard. The term's usage seems variable, but that's what I mean.)I want a floating bridge so I can change string gauges freely without resorting to woodwork to restore intonation. I don't mind notching 2 or 3 bridges for different gauge ranges. The goal is to be able to experiment freely.Other things I'd like are:* Durability and a general a lack of finickiness other than that occasioned by the floating bridge.* Playability.* Decent sustain.* Nice, silvery sound when strung with, for example, three 0.010" strings.* Tight, somewhat restrained bass response when using a wound bass string. No need for a big, guitar-like bottom end (though it's not a deal-killer in an otherwise suitable instrument).* Trapezoidal scheitholt or teardrop shape.* Iron zither pins (preferably) or planetary tuners as opposed to wooden pegs or worm-gear tuners.* Metal frets, probably using fret wire, but stapled frets are OK too if they work well.* Simple, somewhat antique appearance. For example, round soundhole(s), no binding, purfling or bookmatching, no obvious modernity other than frets, tuners and finish.So far this looks fairly close to Karl Gotzmer's Americanized scheitholt .Are there others I should be considering? Should cost less than $500. Much less than $500 is certainly a plus. (Karl's scheitholt is around $200.)Thanks for looking this over.
updated by @flint-hill: 06/08/16 09:24:05PM