Merv Rowley is a retired engineer whose career was spent in industry, research, and education. For the past twenty years he has been sole proprietor of Roselle Dulcimers, building mountain dulcimers, hammered dulcimers, and the occasional banjo or German Alpine zither. He has authored several articles on innovations in dulcimer design and construction and remains active as a custom builder, teacher and volunteer performer.
▪ bio current as of 1999
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.
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#38 p.55 BRB4 p.484
Merv Rowley
▪ A simple gadget for checking the levelness using nothing more than a straightedge, flashlight, and insulated wire.
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.