My Dulcimer

I got started in building hammered dulcimers as an intersection of my desire to own one and the fact that I choked on the thought of spending $500-$600 for a decent instrument. I designed the instrument above using a variety of sources and my trusty Mac. The result is a 15/14 (that's 15 treble courses and 14 bass courses) instrument with a laminated (fancy term for plywood) back and top. The top is luan plywood which is slightly less than 1/4" in thickness and the back is 1/2" nominal nine ply poplar. The keels (top and bottom of the trapezoidal frame) are made of figured 'soft' maple and the pinblocks are made of sugar maple, also known as rock maple. The top has a cherry stain on it. I didn't keep close track but I figure the instrument took me about 60 hours to construct. Uh.. lessee, that was probably about 6 hours of construction and 54 hours of tuning...

Since I built this instrument I have modified the design to make it somewhat less asymmetric. Otherwise the design of the instrument shown has been quite satisfactory. The original intention of the asymmetric design was to straighten up the treble bridge (the bridge on the left) in order to facilitate playing. This was achieved at the expense of the ideal position of the bass bridge. I drew up the modified design one Christmas when my in-laws were here and for some reason I felt like hiding in the computer room and working on the plans. Ahem. I offer these with the caveat that I haven't actually finished the new instrument for reasons stated elsewhere. As a matter of fact you could probably beat me to a finished instrument if you got started now....

This picture shows a somewhat closer view of the top. Note that the treble bridge of the instrument is more or less upright. This is due to the asymmetrical design. The intent of the design is to allow a bit faster negotiation of the treble bridge while playing.

This page describes the general flow of construction and provides a method to determine the dimensions of the bridges.

This is a plan of the general layout of the instrument showing the height, width, keel dimensions, pinblock widths, etc.. I also have a metric version available.

This is a plan for the interior bracing of the dulcimer. The top is supported by two braces (slats, really) which in turn sit upon two transverse braces. The transverse braces have slots cut in them which are situated under the slats which in turn support the top. The idea is to give the top a bit more flexibility and to some extent decouple it acoustically from the back. Again, a metric version is available.

This plan is a layout of the bridge locations. A metric version is available. Sheesh. You'd think I was Canadian or something.

This plan is a cross section of the pinblock and interior bracing. The purpose is to show the relationship of the pinblock to the bracing which supports the top. Yep, I also have a metric version.

This diagram shows the layout for the frame joints. I use the joint shown at the top of the figure because it results in simple squared off ends for the keel which are easier to trim to fit.

This figure shows the method I use to determine the location for the tuning pins and hitch pins. I cut a pattern into strips and use the strips to build the pinblock pattern, one strip at a time, from the main keel up to the top keel.

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