Mountain Dulcimer (Detail)
"The Concert Coog Moon"

An original design based on traditional instruments. The top is 125+ year old salvaged redwood that came from a Santa Cruz Victorian being restored. The sides and back are koa that I found in a lumber yard in Kona, Hawaii. The head and tailpiece are black walnut, and the fingerboard is pine with a laminated mahogany fretboard. The tuning pins are beech.

Several years ago, a prospective customer asked if I could build a larger, louder dulcimer for performances. Even though he didn't buy an instrument, I got to thinking about creating a larger instrument. This "concert" style dulcimer is the result. There are six strings, all doubled like a 12-string guitar. The bass string is doubled with an octave string. The sound is much louder than standard dulcimers, but not too loud. The doubled strings give it a fuller, almost guitar like tone.