That's a beautiful dulcimer Noah. It sounds very nice. I bet it really sings when it isn't played on top of a blanket. I do have one question. Shouldn't the tuning machines be placed so that the tension of the strings pulls the shaft attached to the string is pulled toward the worm gear from the tuning knob? It seems from the photo they are mounted so that the string shaft will eventually pull the gears apart. This is what I was told when I started building dulcimers. Of course I'm not looking at a side view of the peg head so I may not be seeing correctly.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Lovely sounding and lovely looking, Noah.

--
Site Owner

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

Sounds mighty nice Noah. 

Dulcimer #9. A skinnier teardrop shape than I’ve normally made for past dulcimers. Asking  $350 with shipping included. 

Specs:

• curly ash body, 26 3/4” long x about 5” wide, and 2” tall (1/34” sides/inner depth)
• book-matched top and back, all from the same piece of wood, with the sides also book-matched sharing the same piece as the fingerboard, having some spalting inclusions 
• walnut tail block and liners
• 25 1/2” scale length, 1 1/4” wide x 5/8” tall fingerboard
• simple slotted peghead shape with tree carving (inspired a bit by the tree that the wood came from, an older tree that once stood on my grandparent’s farm in Va), and geared tuners
• bone nut, saddle, and tail corner cap
• currently strung with string gauges .012”, .016”, nickel wound .023”, tuned DAD 

Unfortunately, it took a tumble before I got the finish on it, having some dings on the tail end bottom edge and upper bottom corner as seen in the last two photos, however there are no issues with its structural integrity. 

Video of me playing it here, with pictures: youtu.be/OtJKFHrF3Kk?is=SCIptLz0mE7DZVmn

Thanks for looking!

updated by @noah-cline: 08/25/26 05:03:58PM