Tune the first and second strings to G, below Middle C, on a piano. Tune the third string to Middle C, and tune the fourth string to C, one octave below Middle C, on a piano. This is a major tuning. Pick the melody by noting the first string only. Strum the other three strings; they are the drone strings and make the same tone all the time.
Making a dulcimer is not an easy job. You will have to make some of your tools and clamps. You will also have to figure out for yourself how to do certain steps. Take plenty of time and think out each step as you go along. Do not worry about getting all the dimensions the same as those I have given here; the only thing that must be exact is the finger or fret board. Make the rest to suit yourself.
ILLUSTRATION 106 illustrate the plans for a Robert Mize dulcimer which appeared actual size in an insert in Foxfire magazine. Space has forced us to reduce this insert, but a copy of the original may be ordered from Foxfire for $1.
ROBERT MIZE
Photographs by Warren Gaskill.
ILLUSTRATION 107
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Mountain Music Fills the Air: Making Banjos and Dulcimers: The Foxfire Americana Library (11) Page 5