Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
6 years ago
2,111 posts

Thanks Geckostar97 -- Wish I could be credited with the design, but an old boy named Jacob Gross made two round-bottom zithers back in the 1860s -- one fretted, and one bowed.  And his were based on the earlier fretted zithers of the Moravian settlers in PA.  

I may tackle the bowed version next as it's a bit simpler.  Right now I'm staining and sanding and staining again the fretted one, trying to get the color at least close to the original...

Matt Berg
Matt Berg
@matt-berg
6 years ago
90 posts

The trapezoid and its close cousin, the Tennessee music box, have the potential for great instruments.  Here are two of my recent builds where I added rounded corners and a waist.  As with all of my recent builds, they feature a bowed back and a floating fretboard.  Both instruments have strong voices.  The larger, 27" VSL, twangy due to stiffer bracing and the shorter, 24" VSL, more mellow.  The sound boards were from wood recovered from a house renovation.  I believe they are white cedar.

two dulcis 7-31-18.jpg

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
6 years ago
1,073 posts

Thanks for the link. I agree with Ken.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken Hulme
Ken Hulme
@ken-hulme
6 years ago
2,111 posts

The one on the "front page"?  That's just a simple trapezoid-shaped dulcimer; a number of us make them.  Some are wider, like the one Stephen has, some are narrower like the attached photo of a museum replica I'm building which was made around the time of the Civil War. 

The body shape comes from the Pennsylvania zithers which came over from Germany in the late 1500s/early 1600s.  

I don't know the maker of Stephen's; you'd have to ask him.

All Glued Up.JPG
All Glued Up.JPG  •  58KB

Ken Longfield
Ken Longfield
@ken-longfield
6 years ago
1,073 posts

I'm too lazy to search through all of Stephen's videos to find the dulcimer. Do you have a link to the video?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."