james83812Jul 21, 20172 minMonochord in CI occasionally get asked to build unusual musical instruments. I’m always up for a challenge and when local musician Ed Mikenas...
james83812Mar 215 minBrendan, an electro-mechanical, computer-controlled system to play the hammer dulcimerIn October 2021, I was approached by Stan Humphries, a New Mexico based electrical and computer engineer, who obviously had too much time...
james83812Apr 30, 20171 minBuilding a 16/15 Indian SantoorAfter having built a number of aspects of Indian Santoors, I finally got a commission to build a complete instrument based on a...
james83812Apr 12, 201712 minA Midi Hammered Dulcimer?Years ago Randy Machany, dulcimer player with the group No Strings Attached, created what became the first attempt at creating a...
james83812Apr 7, 20165 minDesigning an Electric Hammered DulcimerA long time customer who plays one of Linear Chromatic Hammered Dulcimers in his band The Botanist requested I make him an electric...
james83812Mar 8, 20152 minThe Flipped Linear ChromaticWorking with Steve Shmania in 1998, we brought to life the first Linear Chromatic; a hammered dulcimer which gave players a more logical...
james83812Apr 8, 20129 minThe Indian SantoorLately I’ve become increasingly interested in other instruments in the worldwide dulcimer family so when Dipu Deshmukh (an accomplished...
james83812Oct 27, 20112 minTonewoodsGarret our youngest son has taken a shine to the West of late so we have been doing some traveling out in that direction over the last...
james83812Aug 12, 20112 minThe YangqinAs the yangqin is a type of hammered dulcimer, it shares many elements of construction with other instruments in the hammered dulcimer...
james83812Mar 28, 20112 minSound Hole DesignsMaking unique artistic sound hole images has always been integral to the overall design of my hammered dulcimers. My first sound hole...
james83812Jan 11, 20111 minTsimblsAlthough I don’t sell a lot of them, I offer another version of the hammered dulcimer, the tsimbl. This fully chromatic instrument is a...
james83812Oct 23, 20101 minFour Octave Bowed PsalteryI make three different sizes of bowed psalteries, the three octave Baritone, the two and half octave Alto and the two octave Soprano. I...
james83812Oct 14, 20101 minPrecautions - Humidity ExtremesAs we approach the heating season, I’ll throw out my usual advice about instrument care. Keep the humidity up! Wood in an instrument...
james83812Oct 2, 20101 min9/9 Hammered DulcimerFrank Cone needed a small lightweight hammered dulcimer in a range suitable for playing Medieval or Renaissance music. We came up with a...