Dulcimers on Strings And Tines

Bed Warmer Dulcimer

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

My son and I were walking around an antique store when we ran into this bed warmer hanging on the wall. I had no idea what it was at the time, but my son encouraged me to get it and make a guitar out of it. The round hollow body was just wide enough to fit a guitar neck, and I figured the brass body would resonate quite nicely. I was right! I decided to make a dulcimer out of it instead of a regular 3 string guitar, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I added a flat humbucker pickup on the inside, so it can be played through an amplifier.

Old Window Shutters Dulcimer

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

We got these old shutters from a neighbor with the intention of using them for decoration. However, they sat in the garage for a couple of years before we decided that wasn’t going to happen. So I quickly took a couple to make this dulcimer. I had an old plastic toy guitar I picked up at a thrift store, and ended up adding the piezo and volume control to the dulcimer so you can play it through an amp. The volume knob is the cap from a whiskey bottle. I added springs on the inside for reverb. The shutters are still functional, although they don’t affect the sound as I had hoped.

Romeo y Julieta Cigar Box Dulcimer

Sun, 16 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This dulcimer was a present for my mother for Christmas 2018. She had found this great Romeo y Julieta wooden box and asked me to make a guitar out of it. The string holder is a leaf from a vegetable steamer, and the sound hole is a drain cover. I went with a full set of frets instead of the typical diatonic dulcimer frets, both for the look but also for the versatility of having all the frets in the chromatic scale.

Hurdy Gurdy Dulcimer Mashup

Fri, 27 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This one took some time to build. I originally wanted to build a version of a hurdy gurdy. A neighbor had his backyard umbrella destroyed by a windstorm, and I salvaged the crank, immediately coming up with the idea to make a hurdy gurdy. Now, hurdy gurdys are elaborate instruments, and I was not about to take on that complicated of a build. So I thought I would make a similar instrument, but with three strings. Basically a cigar box guitar but with a handle to turn a wheel that would vibrate the strings.

Opus One Wine Crate Dulcimer

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

My wife had this Opus One crate that I always wanted to do something with. I thought of making a dulcimer, having never actually seen one in real life. I had a bunch of scrap wood ribs from a bed, so I used one for the neck. The dimensions are all off, since the neck is too wide compared to a regular dulcimer. But I think it turned out pretty good otherwise.