Build a Dulcimer - In an hour from scratch

We are building a shed at the back of our village hall and today lots of folks turned up to lift the main beams into place.

About an hour before lunch I cut up some scrap wood and started making a dulcimer.  A couple of other folk  thought the project looked fun and gave me a hand.  First we nailed a box together using a couple of scrap sheets of 3/4"ply and some old baton off cuts.

Then we screwed a piece of timer to the top to make a fretboard and drilled soundholes in our box.

Next I mounted a couple of old bolts to each end to act as a nut and bridge; put in 3 screws to hold the string ends by the nut and 3 eye screws to be tuners.  I made 3 strings from No 8 wire and some staples for frets from 18 gauge broom wire.  I put on two of the strings wound them up to 'a good note' and then positioned the staple frets by ear.

So when the shed party finished for lunch we had a little concert!

Here are a couple of photos of the finished instrument.

Here is a sound clip.

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/3udck43rmt/Scrap_wood_TMB_-_19_nov_17.mp3