I, also, have one of Maxwell's dulcimers also made in 1976 and had never been played prior to a few weeks ago.  Mine only has one base string, middle string, and two melody strings; see the photo in my profile on the left. I am starting to learn..... slowly....       

 

Sidenote: the  Upper CumberlandCraft Center in Cookeville and the  Tennessee Tech's  Appalachian Center  for  Crafts   are not the same.  Maxwell's Craft center was privately owned and preceded the Appalachian Center for Crafts.

updated by @kusani: 02/01/16 10:04:40AM

Two more possibles just for fun DdAA and DdAd

Thanks ken. That's what I thought too or DDDD ,I love that Galax tuning also thought about DADD with one of the bass strings being D and one an A. Ken Hulme said:

If there is no 6+ fret, I would tune DAA and play melody-drone or noter & drone style.

Thanks greg. Rod sent me thie articleand that is the exact one I got. Intonation was reAally bad. Asked Ralph lee smith about fixing it and he said that since it wasn't older than 50 yrs old it would be ok. I will keep it for playing traditional style. It is 4 equal string with the outer two strings on the bass side being bass strings. Don pedi said they often were on the older traditional dulcimers. Forgot to ask about the tuning. It came in a custom wooden box built in 76 and never touched. Got it for $50. What a find. Great craftsmanship, wonderful design and voice. It's at mcspaddens now trying to get it a little closer to right on intonation . Greg Gunner said:

Linda,You may want to refer your friend to the following website. It has some background information on John Maxwell, including an estimate of the current value of one of his dulcimers. http://www.planetdulcimer.com/vintage/john_maxwell.html Greg

I got a call yesterday from a lady in my area who saidshe had a dulcimer bought in 1976 and never playedSo i checked it put and it is a wonderful instrumentbuilt by a John maxwell at the Upper CumberlandCraft Center in Cookeville , Tenn. It is in a finelycrafted wooden box and has been stored there since1976. Beautiful instrument with lively carved tuning pegsand is set up with 4 equal distant stings, 2 of whichare base strings. Will try to post a picture on my home pageas I'm sending this from an iPhone and don't know howto do it . If you know any history please let me know.

updated by @linda-jo-brockinton: 07/31/23 09:36:22PM