Devoted primarily to the Mountain Dulcimer, sometimes known as the Appalachian Dulcimer, fretted dulcimer, or lap dulcimer. All of these names refer to a uniquely American string instrument which is part of the Fretted Zither family of musical instruments. The Mountain Dulcimer dates back to about 1780 or so, and the history of the instrument is extremely vague and open to much speculation. It seems to have developed almost simultaneously in widely separated geographic regions of the United States, although most of the older instruments were found in the Central and Southern Appalachians. Mountain Dulcimers are found in a breathtaking variety of different shapes and sizes, and they are made out of almost any kind of wood imaginable(and some that are pretty hard to imagine!). These instruments are a testament to American ingenuity, in that the early settlers of the Appalachians fashioned their dulcimers out of whatever local lumber they could find and with whatever crude tools they had on hand. So Mountain Dulcimer construction is essentially a folk art: it does not have its roots in a long European tradition, like Violin-making or Lute-making(lutherie). Today, this folk art is incredibly healthy, although it has certainly been influenced by our modern technological age in countless ways: from increased access to tools, to greatly increased information-flow, to some interesting and thought-provoking cross-pollination with modern Guitar building techniques.
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