Folks, this is a thread in the ForSale/Wanted forum. The original poster has happily gotten their desired instrument, so I will need to delete this thread.
Please join our Rosin The Bow GROUP , to continue discussing bowing mountain dulcimers there. (remember, you have to click to JOIN that group in order to see the discussion replies there). Thanks! 
Playing dulcimer with a bow is a lot of fun. I enjoy playing my normal dulcimers with a bow, but I think to play fiddle tunes with a bow, you would need a rounded bridge that allows you to play the middle string independently. Do bowed dulcimers usually have a flat bridge or a rounded bridge? Thanks
Nate
The type Ken makes have an arched bridge similar to the rest of the bowed instruments such as viola/violin/cello, etc for that purpose. I've never tried playing my regular MD with a bow, but I've seen some YouTube videos of others playing that way. You can see some examples at this link: http://boweddulcimer.org/standard.html
Gary
Playing dulcimer with a bow is a lot of fun. I enjoy playing my normal dulcimers with a bow, but I think to play fiddle tunes with a bow, you would need a rounded bridge that allows you to play the middle string independently. Do bowed dulcimers usually have a flat bridge or a rounded bridge? Thanks
Nate
I am just curious can you also play violin tunes on a bowed dulcimer?
@shanonmilan The bowed dulcimer I have chromatically fretted so all of the notes exist, it just depends on how conveniently laid out the song is as to how well you could play it, I imagine. The one I got is 3 strings, I have it tuned DAD, Ken Bloom also has other models which are 4-string and I especially like the "Octave Violin" he has which seems like it is generally tuned GDAE. I have been playing music I've found online of simple public domain violin songs and it has worked well for me so far as I've been getting started.
There is also lots of good information if you go to the "Rosin the Bow!" group here on FOTMD.
Gary
Ken Bloom’s "bowed dulcimers" are fine instruments, but they are clearly in the VIOL family, and neither mountain/lap nor hammered dulcimers. - Just "sweet voiced" instruments.
There is pretty clear historical evidence that some lap dulcimers were played with bows, but virtually no one does it today.
https://fotmd.com/robin-thompson/group_discuss/2072/playing-a-regular-mtn-dulcimer-with-a-bow
I found one video of someone trying it with a homemade instrument.
In The Sweet By and By. bowed dulcimer. cigar box mountain dulcimer.
It is somewhat more commonly done with "Scheitholts."
Bowed Scroll Head Scheitholt by Ben Seymour
I'm planning to try bowing a lap dulcimer on a table top, but there are good technical reasons for not just switching between that and plucking strings on one instrument.
I am just curious can you also play violin tunes on a bowed dulcimer?
Yes, I bought a bowed dulcimer from Betty. I love it (still working out how to get consistent sounds). Hopefully Dave's find will help someone else in their search for one. @strumelia: Thanks for changing header title to reflect it is done, I tried figuring out how to do that when I completed the deal.
I think Gary bought a bowed dulcimer already. 👍🏼
Here
Do a 250 mile Facebook marketplace search in the Carolina’s. One for sale.
Ken Bloom’s "bowed dulcimers" are fine instruments, but they are clearly in the VIOL family, and neither mountain/lap nor hammered dulcimers. - Just "sweet voiced" instruments.
There is pretty clear historical evidence that some lap dulcimers were played with bows, but virtually no one does it today.
https://fotmd.com/robin-thompson/group_discuss/2072/playing-a-regular-mtn-dulcimer-with-a-bow
I found one video of someone trying it with a homemade instrument.
In The Sweet By and By. bowed dulcimer. cigar box mountain dulcimer.
It is somewhat more commonly done with "Scheitholts."
Bowed Scroll Head Scheitholt by Ben Seymour
I'm planning to try bowing a lap dulcimer on a table top, but there are good technical reasons for not just switching between that and plucking strings on one instrument.
Gary, Ken's DVD will get you off to a good start-- have fun!
Thanks, @robin-thompson! I can’t wait to figure it out and get started. I’m getting Ken’s DVD so hopefully that’ll get me going down the path.
Gary
Happy bowing, @ghcstr !
I have a bowed dulcimer that was made by Ken Bloom that is for sale. Like new with case.
The musician who played them, Lee, was a lovely person.
Hey, if you are on Facebook, perhaps you'll want to join the bowed dulcimer group there; a couple of instruments have come up for sale from a very nice woman who passed away earlier this year.
