The reason that Stradivari’s instruments continue to have a high value is that they have been in continuous play by master musicians since they were built. If they had only been stored by collectors, no one would have had the opportunity to hear their quality and over time, they would have been forgotten. They would all have ended on trash heaps.

Likewise, when instruments by the Meltons and other great builders of mountain dulcimers languish in thrift auctions where they are cracked or otherwise broken, many end up on the wall at a grill pub or in a dumpster behind a Goodwill. No one will have a chance to handle them and learn from how they were crafted, or the opportunity to restore them to life so that others can participate in the living history these instruments embody.

Bringing to attention those master-built instruments in peril of being lost is important to the continuity of our national musical heritage. Those who would try to stop this do a disservice to not only the dignity of these instruments but to the makers and players who have created and delivered the legacy to us all.