So sweet Mark, I love following your process to the finish and it is beautiful.

You are playing your builds very well and experimenting with picks for sound is a great idea.

I am glad you are loving what you do, keep it up!

The other Mookie, the one I'm talking about, is from Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," where Lee also played Mookie. It is a wonderfully horrible and powerful movie that culminates in violence and calls into question the contradictions of violence and nonviolence.

Thank you for the kind words about the dulcimer, y'all! It really turned out great. I build the same way each time--I'm really only building the teardrop seen in the video because I love the look and sound and I'd rather work to perfect it, which will be many years down the road if it comes at all! But I also love that sometimes the wood does stuff I cannot even guess about until the end, which is one of the reasons I love building these instruments!

The last Rabbi one was fully chromatic, and I was still doing visible sound holes. It was a really pretty instrument, too (black walnut with a spruce top), and it sounds great! But I like the voice of the one in this thread better. 

And then a guy who does Mongolian throat singing (Look it up if you've never heard it!) saw it wanted a drone instrument to go with is singing. So I made this one out of sapele. I thought it was really cool that my instruments get to raise the spirits of others who probably have never heard a dulcimer played before!

I'm not quitting any time soon, Dusty! And you've supported my efforts from the beginning, so let me know when you're ready because I'd love for you to have one!

She's always right, Robin, but she usually gives me 2% whether I'm am or not! We don't even keep score anymore. (And thank you for the plug on the pick bag Val made for you!)

I used to think I had to beat the heck out of the strings to get the sounds I want, but I'm learning that subtle is good. This instrument does not sound muddy at all when I use the softer pick. So--growth moment here--when I flat pick I'll use my favorite purple one, and when I'm going to get more aggressive in strumming I'll use the softer one! 

I've been digging around to find examples of pre folk revival instruments that are decorated, and there are examples out there. Not many, but they are there. Mr. Ralph Lee Smith reminded me that Uncle Ed Thomas painted many of his, and gave me some leads about others, like a painted and decorated Pritchard from c. 1890. 

And Mr. L. Allen Smith has a couple documented in his catalog.

If anyone has examples or leads I'd love to know so I can follow them up!

Adding my decorations to the Sunhearth design and building methods swells me with pride. But standing on the shoulders of all those before me reminds me that I'm just another guy doing what he loves, and this keeps me humble.

Thank y'all for looking and listening and commenting.

Val's right about you & the softer pick.  :) The sound and look are ever-so-fine! 

The artwork you have done on your builds will inspire future luthiers-- I'm glad you're documenting the processes so others can learn from you.  

Your videographer makes wonderful bags for picks, noters, and such.  I keep my bag supplied so when I choose to take one dulcimer instead of another, all I have to do is grab the bag Val made out of one case and put it in another. 

Beautiful work, Mark.  This is not your first rabbi, is it? I think I remember another dulcimer you made for a rabbi.

Someday I hope to commission a dulicmer from you. 

Nice playing Mark!  And what a fabulous instrument you made!