Hi Nate.I started out as an acoustic guitar player.As you point out there's a big difference between acoustic and electric.I used to be able to tell if a prominent electric guitarist was initially an acoustic player-something about the tone.When I played in folk rock bands I realized electric players had a mystique about tone,sustain,etc. that went beyond the pickup position or the Amp.There is something in that I think,from choice of woods,particular year of making,etc.Also the tubes versus solid state dichotomy.In addition I remember an electric band might sound great on a Thursday and sound hollow,no tone on a Friday.A change in atmosphere,electrical current?My point?Electrified instruments have a lot of variables,just like acoustics.Funny thing about it,though,put a telecaster into my hands with a good Amp,my personality changes,like picking up a hockey stick,laugh.

On an electric string instrument, none of the characteristics of the instrument itself are present in the tone. The two factors are style/number/position of pickups and fret intonation. Everything else is determined by the synthesizer/amp, which is where pedals become a useful enhancement. One benefit to solid body electric is that because the instrument doesn't need to be resonant, it can be built with very low action, which allows for techniques that are more difficult on an acoustic dulcimer.
I look forward to hearing this instrument, thanks for sharing
Nate

Cool!  I look forward to hearing that baby sing.  The chromatic fretboard would throw me off, too.

--
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

I recently got a solid body electric from Needful Strings:

https://www.needfulstringsllc.com/product/20756474/cedar-creek-solid-body-electric-mountain-dulcimer

Matthew was gracious and helpful in keeping me updated as Troy built the instrument, and it arrived safely, well-packed. This thing is lovely. The advertisement photo shows a really pale wood, which I would have been OK with, but mine is a more caramel-colored wood on top (oak?) with nice dark grain patterns which I like better: feels warm. I'll get some pictures some time.

Since I got it chromatic, it's been a challenge learning to use the chromatic fretboard. For now I've blacked out the extra frets with permanent marker (very carefully) so that I still see them but they're not as obvious. I spent days experimenting with tunings. It took a tuning down to B pretty well, but I think I'd need thicker gauge strings to make that work the best. Right now I've got it in CGF, since Dorian tuning is my favorite. I tried Phrygian and even Locrian tunings, since I could have more freedom with the chromatic frets. I even tried BDF# but then I felt like I was over my head. Opportunity to get better though. I never got good at other stringed instruments yet, and I tune my dulcimers in traditional modal tunings, using the extra fret to switch between modes, and I've liked it that way just fine. But I'm slowly starting to work out chords now that I have more freedom to do that.

I like the sound of this instrument clean -- currently I'm running it through a small Squier since my Fender amp has decided to misbehave. I also have a distortion pedal that makes it loud, and I might need to get a different kind of pedal, since this one tends to sound harsher and fuzzier than I had in mind. But of course, now that I've got an electric instrument, I'm starting to need more pedals. A reverb pedal is on the way, and I'm thinking about an octave pedal soon.

updated by @studentofrhythm: 08/24/26 08:54:14AM