No. 3

    This page contains picture and information on making a
"longneck" style dulcimer. This is the third instrument I
have made so the name #3 sounds good. After having moved
into a new house in a new city, I'm just getting back to
work on a dulcimer.
    This dulcimer is being built using plans from
Home Page of Dulciaddict web site....Check it out..
He has plans for Mountain, Longneck and 'A' Stick
dulcimers..

    This is the progress so far....

November 2002:

    Sides, tail block and neck...

    The wood is all popular. The dark piece has colors ranging
from red to brown. The white strip will be offset by a dark
strip running down the middle of the blonde back..

    Here is the back drying in the clamp.. Note the nice figure
and the dark strip down the center.. This serves two purposes..
First is to contrast the white strip in the body, second it
helps hide the fact that the book match isn't perfect..

December 2002:

    For those of you searching for a good f-hole pattern here's
the one I'm going to use. Just use the printer setup of you
favorite paint program to size it.

    Here's a look at the neck...The pocket for the brace rod has
been milled.. I have decided to use a 5/16 stainless rod.. A little
heavy but the body should balance it out.. The rod has been roughed
with some 80 grit sandpaper and it ready to epoxy in the pocket..

    This is a shot of the top.. It is Western Red Cedar.. You can
hear a ring when you tap it.. Should make a nice top..

    Here the neck, sides and tail block have been glued and sanded.
The back has been rough cut, lined up and glued.

   I will glue a strip down the center to reinforce the back before
gluing the top. Will also place a name tag under the f-hole location.

February 2003:

    After all the holidays were out of the way I got back to work..
Here are the pictures of the finished dulcimer...

     Some things you might notice....
It has a round sound hole instead of an f-hole..The reason
I decided on a round hole was the f-hole would have interfered
with the modified X brace on the top...Also this is the second
top...The first on busted trying to cut the f-holes..

TIP....Western Red Cedar is VERY easy to break and also chips
bad...But it sure sounds good....

TIP 2...Indian Rosewood does not like to bend..The dark ring around
the sound hole is made of this....

TIP 3...5/16 stainless rod is OVER kill for a neck brace..It made
the dulcimer a little neck heavy so I'll have to put a strap on it..

TIP 4... The bridge is from a web site on using a violin bridge on
a mandolin..It really make a diffrence in the sound..Here is a link
if you would like to know more...
 Red Bridge
 

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