See... I admire and respect the builders who have gotten so good at building dulcimers, refined their craft if you will, and built demand and reputation to where they can charge enough to make a decent living. Their dulcimers are special.

Hmmm...I own both Ron's and Bonnie's.  Maybe I should do a test.  I'd want to contact Ron Gibson, also, to see if he could tell me the original cost of his dulcimer, since I got it used.  My Bonnie Carol's are both used, too, for that matter, and they both sound great....and I prefer their sound to the Gibsons.  But, there again, is the preference for a particular sound that is so personal--and some days I don't even like the sound of my favorite dulcimers!  What's up with that?!

--
Jan Potts, Lexington, KY
Site Moderator

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke

"Robert: Most small builders like myself build as a labor of love for the dulcimer. I think I speak for other builders on this site when I say the compensation i get is seeing the joy people get from playing my dulcimers...Robert"

I agree completely.  And, I just can't charge a 'friend' customer for a dulcimer, I ask they make a donation to Habitat for Humanity based on the value I would have charged a 'stranger' customer. To me that makes it a 'win/win'. ....Harry

It only takes $50 worth of wood to make the finest sounding dulcimer. The rest is care and craftsmanship. Dulcimer are the most grossly undervalued of all handmade stringed instruments.  BC dulcimer price reflects the true value if one were to build dulcimers as a business.

Most small builders like myself build as a labor of love for the dulcimer. I think I speak for other builders on this site when I say the compensation i get is seeing the joy people get from playing my dulcimers...Robert

I do not believe shape has any impact on sound.  Interior volume, definitely.  But shape, no.  Not in any meaningful way that doesn't involve a lot of scientific sound analysis equipment.  

I have a standing offer of $200 cash for anyone who can pass my blind listening test -- a selection of 3 or more dulcimers of different shapes, playing the same tunes in the same way.  You will never see the instruments, only hear them, until the test is over.  All you have to do is correctly identify which shape is playing which tune at which time.  I've had people who swear they can tell one from another who somehow never seem to be willing to put this to the test, when push comes to shove.  

updated by @ken-hulme: 04/19/18 10:29:22PM

Do you think the shape has a big impact on the sound? My first dulcimer was a teardrop style (kit). The current dulcimer is an hourglass. From what I've listened to on You Tube, the teardrops tend to have more volume. But it could be that I am hearing more amplified teardrops than hourglasses. I do find the hourglass easier to carry.

@adrian-e,  I have a different approach to this.  

I strongly advise against spending a lot of money on an instrument until you've been playing long enough to discover your own preferences.  Some variables are more obvious than others.  The VSL, or vibrating string length, makes a difference mainly in how big the spaces are between frets and the sustain the instrument has.  Do you want an overlay such as ebony on the fretboard?  How wide should the fretboard be?  What kind of fret wire do you prefer?  How far apart should the strings be?  Do you want a wrist rest?  a bevel or place to rest your arm while you play?  Do you want a warm, mellow tone, or a brighter sound? Do you want a false bottom for more volume, or would you rather have less volume but be able to control it by muting the bottom on your legs?

You would be surprised how many small variables can make a big difference in how you (yes you, not me, because we are all different) play an instrument.  It took me a few years of playing to develop most of my preferences, but I am still refining certain issues like how far apart I want the strings.  Some of that can be adjusted on any instrument, but some of it can't.  And you don't want to spend a lot of money on an instrument only to find after playing it a while that it's not to your liking.  You would be better off playing for a while, trying out a variety of different instruments, and slowly developing a sense of what your dream dulcimer is.  In a few years, if you are still playing and still enjoying the dulcimer, you'll know exactly what you want to spend your money on.

I also don't know how to quantify the differences in tone between dulcimers.  I have dulcimers that cost $300 and dulcimers that cost over $1000.  The more expensive dulcimers sound a lot richer and play a lot easier.  But 3 times as much? I have no idea.  If we are judging dulcimers by a ratio of their sound quality relative to their price, I would suggest the David Lynch beginner dulcimer to be the best dulcimer out there.  It does not have the rich, warm tone of dulcimers that cost ten times the price, but the intonation is excellent, the action is good, the instrument has a nice punch to it, and the price is about a third of a Ron Gibson.

Having said all that, both Ron Gibson and Bonnie Carol dulcimers have good reputations and good resale value.

 

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

Here's my two cent's worth (without knowing anything about Bonnie Carroll or her dulcimers):

For that price, I would expect it to be a work of art from a well known, well respected dulcimer maker. I would think this is the sort of instrument you would see and be willing to sell your first born for :). And you would be confident enough in your playing that you would feel it was a good fit for your style.

I have no idea wht my style is yet, so I am going for a good quality instrument, with good resale value if I upgrade at some date. You'll need to decide which instrument really speaks to you.

I completely agree. I would add that an instrument can sound very different when passed around to players even with similar styles as their attack can vary significantly.

There's a huge factor in the sound of a dulcimer that often gets overlooked: the PLAYER!  I'm not talking about skill level here (although we all know somebody who can take a $50 toy guitar and make it sound better than most people playing a Martin).  I'm talking about the wonderful variety of playing styles that make each of us unique.

Do you fret with a noter or your fingers?  Strum with a quill or a pick?  Flatpicking?  Fingerpicking?  Fingernails or pads?  At what angle does your pick/quill/finger strike the strings?  Do you have a light touch or are you digging in?  Do you play at a consistent volume or do you want a wide dynamic range?

Drones? Chords? Up the fretboard in the 2nd octave? Scale boxes across all the strings? Old time? Jazz?   

If we took one dulcimer and passed it around, each of us would make that dulcimer sound different.  Plus we all have different taste (and different ears).  Sometimes at a festival I'll play two dulcimers and hear a whole world of difference between them, while my poor husband (who does not play dulcimer) does not discern any difference at all (and hence does not understand the objective fact that I need to buy just one more).

I am sure there are people who think a Carol sounds 4X better than a Gibson... maybe 100X better... and people who think the Gibson sounds better. Depending on how you play and what you're listening for, there might not be any significant difference between them.

The often-inconvenient truth is that nobody else can tell you what a dulcimer sounds like.  You have to play it and hear it for yourself. 

I've played both instruments.  And I know Bonnie Carrol personally, from "the old days".  No, Bonnie's dulcimers do not sound 4x as good as a Ron Gibson, or anyone else's.  Price in dulcimers is not necessarily about quality of sound.  It's about materials and workmanship and perceived value (name among other things).  For example, a $100 set of tuning machines (compared to a $10 set), and $200 worth of exotic wood (compared to $20 worth of poplar) make a dulcimer more expensive but do not particularly contribute to making one sound better than the other.  There are a huge number of variables (well over a dozen) which contribute to the sound of a dulcimer. 

updated by @ken-hulme: 04/19/18 12:43:24PM

I have a Ron Gibson on layaway (which I think really helps you afford a better instrument.) I haven't seen the Bonnie Carol dulcimers, so can't compare. I suspect that it's not just the quality of the sound. You would have to decide if the craftsmanship is better as well.