2018
AL#133 p.22
R.M. Mottola Mark French
▪ Mark French was a kid who took guitar lessons and paid the guy at the music store to change his strings. He went on to be an aerospace engineer, but with all that book learning he still did not know how guitars worked. Now he teaches college courses on guitar making and hangs out with captains of industry at Fender and Taylor.
2014
AL#118 p.6
Bill Arnold
▪ Arnold shares thoughts on the dignity of the mountain dulcimer, and shares photos of recent instruments.
2011
AL#105 p.5
Richard Troughear
▪ Information on the acoustics and vibrational behavior of the Appalachian mountain dulcimer.
2009
AL#98 p.48
John Calkin
▪ Calkin was inspired to write this by pleas from readers for more entry level stories. Dulcimers are needlessly maligned and in need of advocates, and the author is a strong one. Tools and jiggery are kept to a minimum to make construction as accessible as possible without hurting the integrity of the finished instrument. Beginning luthiers should stop complaining and get to work! With 31 photos.
1999
AL#59 p.36 BRB5 p.390
Merv Rowley
▪ Rowley may have been the first to use metal rod for frets rather than fret wire, a technique often attributed to Richard Schneider. He has built dulcimers for many years and has been something of an innovator. Here he examines the chromatic, rather than the diatonic dulcimer, and decides that perhaps it’s time has come and how to make it most acceptable to those who already play the conventionally fretted instrument. With a photo and two charts.
1999
AL#58 p.16 BRB5 p.358
John Calkin Bonnie Carol
▪ Bonnie Carol has been a mainstay on the dulcimer scene for three decades. She is alive and well in Colorado, still building and performing. With 9 photos of her shop, instruments, and construction process. Mentions Max Krimmel.
1997
AL#51 p.52 BRB5 p.491
John Calkin
▪ A portable fret to solve the installation problem of the infamous 6 and a half fret of a dulcimer.
1995
AL#44 p.48 BRB4 p.472
John Calkin
▪ As always, not all books are created equal. Calkin compares all the dulcimer books he could round up.
1995
AL#44 p.59 BRB4 p.499
Merv Rowley
▪ The dilemma of how to increase dulcimer fretboard width without reducing sound output level on an Appalachian mountain (or fretted) dulcimer.
1994
AL#40 p.38 BRB4 p.114
Jonathon Peterson Jim Roden
▪ Roden is a dulcimer maker and a forester, so he understands that we need to preserve forests and we need to cut them, too. He freely addresses both sides of the coin.
1993
AL#34 p.50
John Calkin
▪ Calkin takes a humorous (and highly fictionalized) whack at folk history.
1992
AL#31 p.55 BRB3 p.237 read this article
John Bromka
▪ Bromka examines a French member of the lap dulcimer family. With 2 photos.
1991
AL#26 p.47 BRB3 p.477
Keith Davis
▪ Here’s the premise: build a boatload of one-string noisemakers and give them away. Inspire kids to make music. Take a tax break.
1991
AL#26 p.59 BRB3 p.464 read this article
Harry Fleishman
▪ The reviewer admires the beauty of the book’s photography, but seems hesitant to recommend it since so little of it is dedicated to musical instruments.
1988
AL#16 p.35
Cliff Dennis
▪ Jeez, someone finally took the mountain dulcimer seriously enough to try and compensate it’s intonation. Welcome to the 21st century, Mr. and Mrs. Dulcimer.
1986
AL#7 p.60 BRB1 p.497 read this article
James Flynn
▪ The reviewer doubts the book’s conclusions and finds it of no value to the serious luthier. He states, however, that dulcimer enthusiasts may find it interesting.
1985
AL#4 p.46 BRB1 p.146
Peg Willis
▪ Willis explains the construction of her unique hollow dulcimer fretboard, which has coved sides that blend into the soundboard.
1985
AL#1 p.54 BRB1 p.486 read this article
Peter Estes
▪ The reviewer praises the book in general, and especially the quality of the diagrams.
1985
AL#1 p.40 BRB1 p.42
Merv Rowley
▪ Rowley describes a method of setting nails into half-round slots in a dulcimer fretboard. The slots are made by passing the fretboard over a veining bit in a router table with a miter fence.
1983
DS#263 LT p.48
Joyce Westphal
▪ Cuts 2-liter anesthesia bags into big rubber bands.
1983
DS#241 BRB2 p.361
C.F. Casey
▪ The laminated, hollow fretboard is one of the standard designs of the dulcimer industry. Casey’s is a bit nicer than most. With 6 drawings.
1982
DS#205 BRB2 p.315
Jeff Feltman
▪ Feltman offers a dulcimer bridge design that hardly changes the traditional look of the instrument but is said to dramatically improve the volume of the instrument. It’s a sad commentary on our noisy society that the only way to improve volume is by making it louder. Oh, well. With drawings enough to make things clear.
1980
DS#159 BRB2 p.290
Hardy-B. Menagh
▪ Menagh’s dulcimer utilizes a shortened fretboard, a banjo-ish bridge, and a tailpiece to help make the instrument louder. He also employs an X brace under the top.With 2 photos and a drawing of his dulcimer innards.
1980
DS#140 BRB2 p.209
Bud Ingraham
▪ Ingraham uses guitar bridge pins to fasten the ends of his dulcimer strings. With a pair of drawings.
1979
GALQ Vol.7#2 p.8 BRB2 p.96
Bonnie Carol
▪ Despite its simplicity, the lap dulcimer can be ruined by poor design as easily as any other stringed instrument. The author describes ways to deal with different varieties of wood and fingerboard design to achieve maximum tone and volume from a given shape and size dulcimer. With 3 photos and 2 drawings.
1978
DS#70 LT p.42
Tony Pizzo
▪ Adjustable-shape mold for dulcimer assembly.