I have just received some more pictures from Kevin W. Jones, the luthier creating this instrument. Jones specializes in building Walkabout Dulcimers. Some people refer to similar instruments as long neck dulcimers. They are shaped and played like guitars, but they are diatonically fretted with pairs of strings like mountain dulcimers. Jennifer and I have a mountain dulcimer at the house that we enjoy playing, but for me, coming from a guitar background, the instrument is backwards. So we decided to tune my tenor guitar similar to the dulcimer since it has four strings as well. This sounded interesting, but since the strings were not in pairs, it didn't quite have the sound we were looking for. One benefit of the tenor guitar tuned this way, over the dulcimer is that it is chromatically fretted. Being chromatically fretted allows for easy transistion between keys, something needed during jams.
This is why I contacted Kevin W. Jones of the Olympia Dulcimer Company. I saw that he had designed and was building exactly what I was looking for. He builds many variations of the walkabout dulcimer, including a bass version and an electric version. I personally liked the sound of his bass walkabouts, and the size of them, but I wanted one chromatically tuned with diatonic markers on the side. He has built similar instruments in the past, including an eight string chromatically tuned bass dulcimer, so I knew I was in great hands. I went with the six stringed bass walkabout dulcimer rather than an eight stringed one.
Please check out the Olympia Dulcimer Company's website to learn more about the walkabout dulcimer and to see video clips and hear what these instruments sound like. http://www.walkaboutdulcimer.com/
This is why I contacted Kevin W. Jones of the Olympia Dulcimer Company. I saw that he had designed and was building exactly what I was looking for. He builds many variations of the walkabout dulcimer, including a bass version and an electric version. I personally liked the sound of his bass walkabouts, and the size of them, but I wanted one chromatically tuned with diatonic markers on the side. He has built similar instruments in the past, including an eight string chromatically tuned bass dulcimer, so I knew I was in great hands. I went with the six stringed bass walkabout dulcimer rather than an eight stringed one.
Please check out the Olympia Dulcimer Company's website to learn more about the walkabout dulcimer and to see video clips and hear what these instruments sound like. http://www.walkaboutdulcimer.com/
Here are the newest pictures as promised. Oh...and congratulation Trudy, you were the only one to guess correctly right off the bat that it was some sort of dulcimer!
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