Newbie design questions

Okay, so I built and have greatly enjoyed 5 different stick dulcimers before building a regular mountain dulcimer. I must say that I am blown away by the sweetness of the sound of the dulcimer.

Would I be correct to assume that the biggest part of the difference in sound between a dulcimer and a stick dulcimer is the volume if the body?

The reason I ask is I am into ultralight backpacking and bicycle touring and have built some sticks with that in mind. So far they have been in the 7 ounce range and sound OK, but nothing like the full sized dulcimer.

I wonder if a very lightly built small dulcimer can be built at less than 8 ounces and still have a lot better sound than the sticks. I plan to tinker with that a bit. Any advice on what design criteria I should apply?

I am thinking hollow finger board, violin style tuning pegs (or maybe uke friction pegs), 24" length, and aspen body and staff, possibly with a thin layer of harder wood on the fingerboard.