If you need more on this go to "Tree Huggers" groups of animals. Hundreds of names.

OK y"all got me going on this. Ken started it so I had to do some research, seems as though we are now including animals in groups. Ken, here is the gist of the matter that makes sense. Animals gather in groups as there are safety in numbers but the reason that fits is they gather for a collection of wisdom. When it takes a decision a group does better than a single. I guess FOTMD is a troop of musicians. 

All that to say, I also play the Jews Harp and yes as mentioned previously, I am in process of building my own. Wow! there is a lot more to it than bending a rod and adding a reed. but, soon I may have a "host of harps". 

You've got that right John. I tried giving my son-in-law one of the banjos this past weekend, but all he wanted was dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That'll never happen, Lisa.

Ken, get back to me when you're serious.

Strumelia, are three banjos a pox or do I need more?

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I don't have an embarrassment of mountain dulcimers, but i do have a pox of banjos.

Thanks Dusty, I needed that this AM

A herd of elephants.  A murder of crows.  A troop of gorillas.  A chorus of frogs.  A school of fish.  An embarrassment of mountain dulcimers.

John, I borrowed that phrase from the collector of another type of musical instrument. If you want to call your group of dulcimers "a loveliness" that's fine with me. I do feel a little embarrassed that I have so many instruments.

Adding to the story of the 24 dulcimers in the photo, I made 14 of them. The other 10 were either purchased by me or a gift. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I don't think I can get to it this week. I will need to arrange things so that the plans make sense to someone other than me. Generally I have a pattern for the head stock and a profile of the instrument. The rest are measurements, length, width, height, and numbers of frets, I did full body tracings of some of the instruments, but they are too large to scan. I would have to make copies of them, probably by hand. Be patient and I will gather together the information for you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken, would that be the official phrase describing more than a few dulcimers?  An "embarrassment" of dulcimers?  Seems inappropriate for a grouping of lovely songmakers.  How about a "loveliness" of dulcimers?

Thanks Ken, Yes I would appreciate it. What's the best way to do that? My email address would be fine if you have access to it.

[quote="Ken Longfield"]

Our son-in-law and two grandsons came to visit yesterday. Our daughter is ill with a cold or seasonal flu so she stayed home. Last night I began showing them my dulcimers. Today we set all of my mountain dulcimers and related instruments in the living room and took a photo. There are 24 instruments in the photo and a least two of them are going home with them. Maybe two more if I can talk both grandsons into taking instruments rather than sharing one with their father.

Front row on floor (l to r): Praetorius scheitholt reproduction, dulcimer in a fiddle case.
Middle row (l to r): Musical Traditions dulcimer, Warren May, a dulcimer I made for our daughter, Dulcimer Factory (the Naylors), a modern Prichard I made, J.E. Thomas #1465 (1931), Prichard reproduction, early Folkcraft for the Vermont years by David Marks, a Backyard cardboard dulcimer, a reproduction zitter, a teardrop with flat peghead, a reproduction zitter, the first dulcimer I ever made.
Top row (l to r): travel dulcimer by Dave Lynch, a Sunhearth teardrop, four teardrop dulcimers, a Blue Lion, Randy Adams box dulcimer, Folkcraft all walnut made by Steve Ash. I plan to make a one page description of each instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken, I have written a description of each of my dulcimores with photographs and have it in a ring binder.  Very helpful when my memory cannot find which shelf in my brain that information is on.

A lovely collection, Ken L! 

Shopdad, my guess is what you really want to build is a zitter or hummel which people often (mistakenly) call scheitholts. There are two zitters in the photo and I have plans for both of them. You are welcome to them if you are interested. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Very impressive. I'm looking forward to the post on the individual stories.

I will be doing a presentation at the airboat meeting Oct. 14th. I will take as many instruments as I can carry. The objective is to stir up some interest and possibly get some new dulcimer players going. 

I mentioned a while back I am interested in building my first Scheitholt. I have seen so many variations I'm a bit confused about what the actual design would be. I believe you sent some plans when I was discussing it and now I see the one you built. It appears to be much longer than I imagined it. I will go back and find the drawings again as I have most of the material to begin. I have some nice cherry and some teak. Now I wonder if the teak will be long enough.  I need to go back and read your post on the Scheitholt again too. 

Our son-in-law and two grandsons came to visit yesterday. Our daughter is ill with a cold or seasonal flu so she stayed home. Last night I began showing them my dulcimers. Today we set all of my mountain dulcimers and related instruments in the living room and took a photo. There are 24 instruments in the photo and a least two of them are going home with them. Maybe two more if I can talk both grandsons into taking instruments rather than sharing one with their father.

Front row on floor (l to r): Praetorius scheitholt reproduction, dulcimer in a fiddle case.
Middle row (l to r): Musical Traditions dulcimer, Warren May, a dulcimer I made for our daughter, Dulcimer Factory (the Naylors), a modern Prichard I made, J.E. Thomas #1465 (1931), Prichard reproduction, early Folkcraft for the Vermont years by David Marks, a Backyard cardboard dulcimer, a reproduction zitter, a teardrop with flat peghead, a reproduction zitter, the first dulcimer I ever made.
Top row (l to r): travel dulcimer by Dave Lynch, a Sunhearth teardrop, four teardrop dulcimers, a Blue Lion, Randy Adams box dulcimer, Folkcraft all walnut made by Steve Ash. I plan to make a one page description of each instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."