I hope Jacques responds, Nate, yet if he doesn't we all know your cool work is out in the world, in the wild.  

I have made an effort to reach out to Jacques but i dont think i have actually reached him. I dont know if hed like my instruments but id really like for him to know they exist. I dont think he has any interest in dulcimers, but he really is such a cool character, and his desire to use water has been such a cool source of inspiration for me

Way too kind of you to say robin, as always

I'll have to look into how that mechanism works, however I have considered a few ways to stir the bowl, and honestly most of them are beyond my ability. I think the simplest would be to tap my leg, and the most complicated would be to make a dulcimer stand that has rocking chair legs

This kind of reminds me of the rowing machines that have a water reservoir in them and feel like water resistance while rowing indoors. They also make a calming swooshing sound while you exercise. Maybe you could make a combined instrument/rowing machine? The leg power could power some sort of wheel, like a hurdy gurdy?

For $175, the sound will be relegated to being lost to history.  Yet we have something better here at FOTMD-- Nate!   

Yes Robin, that is Jacques Dudon! I had thought up this cake pan dulcimer before reading about his invention, and when I did, I decided to finally get around to making it.
I have found that most of the descriptions of the tone of aquavinas is not at all similar to the tone I've gotten.
Many people describe the tone as similar to a waterphone, with a creepy warbling. The ones that I have built simply give a shimmer to the sound, as the water moves around the pan and selectively filters its harmonics.
Still don't know what the original sounded like, but for 175$, I'll leave it up to my imagination for now, haha.

I found two copies of "From the Pages of Experimental Musical Instruments Volume III" for sale through Discogs. It is a cassette tape and Aquavina is track 2. One sells for $176.65 with free shipping. The other is 170 euros plus 14 euros shipping. That's $204.44 according to website. It also says that this seller is accepting offers. If you offer is accepted, you are obligated to complete the purchase within 5 days. Well, both prices are way too high for me to listen to one track on a cassette tape. I just thought I'd post this in case we have some very rich folk here who want to go for it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I screen-shotted this from Mountain Dulcimer Lore on fb--credit to Steve Carney @steve-c: 

Perhaps Jacques Dudon! He is the inventor of the aquavina dulcimer. His design was essentially a large mixing bowl with a dulcimer neck attached to it. Unfortunately, the recordings are hard to locate and i havent been able to find any isolated audio of what the instrument sounded like

Everything about this is so doggone cool, Nate.  

@steve-c A few weeks back, did you post a photo on fb and taken some decades ago (70's or '80's) of a guy who was playing a dulcimer which had some sort of pan on it in similar fashion to how Nate uses the Bundt pan? 

The first Bundt pan dulcimer I made was one of many experimental dulcimer ideas I had at the time, but its been my absolute favorite material ever since. I first glued this bundt pan onto this plywood over five years ago, and its gone through several changes since then. Eventually i gave it to a friend, who played it for a good amount of time until I asked for it back in exchange for a newer, higher quality one.

The "personality" of this dulcimer has changed a lot over the years, but i have recently refurbished it in a way that honors what i like about it, despite it's shortcomings.