Hammered Dulcimers - Great sounding hammered dulcimers and hammered dulcimer kits.

The hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Usually, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings (cf. Appalachian dulcimer). The Graeco-Roman dulcimer (sweet song) derives from the Latin dulcis (sweet) and the Greek melos (song). The dulcimer, in which the strings are beaten with small hammers, evolved from the psaltery, in which the strings are plucked.

The hammered dulcimer comes in quite a few different sizes, identified by the number of strings that cross each of the bridges. A 15/14, for example, has two bridges (treble and bass) and spans three octaves. The strings of a hammered dulcimer are most often found in pairs (though some instruments can have up to three or four strings per note). Each set of strings is tuned in unison. A hammered dulcimer requires a tuning wrench for tuning, since the dulcimer's strings are wound around tuning pins with square heads.

The diatonically-based tuning results in most, but not all, notes of the chromatic scale being available. To fill in the gaps, many modern dulcimer builders include extra short bridges at the top and bottom of the soundboard, where extra strings are tuned to some or all of the missing pitches. Such instruments are often called "chromatic dulcimers" as opposed to the more traditional "diatonic dulcimers".

In the Alps there are also chromatic dulcimers with crossed strings, which are in a whole tone distance in every row.

The hammered dulcimer derives its name from the small mallets that players use to strike the strings, called hammers. Hammers are usually made of wood (most likely hard woods such as maple, cherry, padauk, oak, walnut, or any other hard wood), but can also be made from any material, including metal and plastic. In the Western hemisphere, hammers are usually stiff, but in Asia, flexible hammers are often used.

Hammered dulcimers of non-European descent may have other tuning patterns, and builders of European-style dulcimers sometimes experiment with alternate tuning patterns. Versions of the hammered dulcimer are used throughout the world. In Eastern Europe, a larger descendant of the hammered dulcimer called the cimbalom is played and has been used by a number of classical composers, including Zoltán Kodály, Igor Stravinsky and Pierre Boulez, and more recently, in a different musical context, by Blue Man Group. The khim is the name of both the Thai and the Khmer hammered dulcimer. The Chinese yangqin is a type of hammered dulcimer that originated in Persia. The santur and santoor are found in the Middle East and India, respectively.

Since the material is so solid, it makes this dulcimer stay in tune better than any other instrument we have tried. For the beginner, tuning is the most daunting obstacle, not really difficult, but at first it seems so. If the dulcimer is out of tune, it is unpleasant to play, and if tuning it seems like a big project, one sometimes gives up, and just doesn't play. Our theory is that a dulcimer that is in tune gets played more, and the player makes much faster progress. Learn to play first, and tuning will become easier with time. We have proven this theory over and over having introduced many thousands of people to the dulcimer with our instruments. This is why we strongly recommend the 16/15 Phoebe to most folks interested in the hammered dulcimer, especially those that aren't already accomplished on other instruments

But the Phoebe isn't just for beginners. It is good enough to do almost anything musically a dulcimer player might want to do. Unless there is a specific reason to use a different instrument (like my Civil War dulcimer) the one I always play is one of the first Phoebes from years ago. It has been everywhere with me, playing many jobs and venues. Twice it has been in the National Championship Hammered Dulcimer contest held every September at Winfield, KS, and it has made it to the finals once. It sounds just great! I take it for all the reasons listed above. It is durable, sounds wonderful, and most of the time when I get it out of the case, it is in tune.

Designed to have a "middle of the road" sound. They are relatively low "sustain", but with enough of that brightness to sound good like a hammered dulcimer should. They work equally well playing fast fiddle tunes, or slower hymns in church. An instrument with high sustain will start to sound muddy when playing faster melodies, and the notes will muddle together until it is hard to hear clearly. However these same dulcimers can sound wonderful when playing slow melodic songs. On the other hand, a very low sustain dulcimer can work just great for fast songs, but sound dead on slower ones; there's too much space between the notes. These instruments are designed to work equally well in all situations. They are not a compromise, but we firmly believe we are making the best hammered dulcimers money can buy.

So unless you decided for some reason you wanted a different dulcimer later, like you wanted a Chromatic dulcimer, or you wanted more decorations, you might never need to get another hammered dulcimer.

Since the material is so solid, it makes this dulcimer stay in tune better than any other instrument we have tried. For the beginner, tuning is the most daunting obstacle, not really difficult, but at first it seems so. If the dulcimer is out of tune, it is unpleasant to play, and if tuning it seems like a big project, one sometimes gives up, and just doesn't play. Our theory is that a dulcimer that is in tune gets played more, and the player makes much faster progress. Learn to play first, and tuning will become easierwith time. We have proven this theory over and over having introduced many thousands of people to the dulcimer with our instruments. This is why we strongly recommend the 16/15 Phoebe to most folks interested in the hammered dulcimer, especially those that aren't already accomplished on other instruments

But the Phoebe isn't just for beginners. It is good enough to do almost anything musically a dulcimer player might want to do. Unless there is a specific reason to use a different instrument (like my Civli War dulcimer) the one I always play is one of the first Phoebes from years ago. It has been everywhere with me, playing many jobs and venues. Twice it has been in the National Championship Hammered Dulcimer contest heldevery September at Winfield, KS, and it has made it to the finals once. It sounds just great! I take it for all the reasons listed above. It is durable, sounds wonderful, and most of the time when I get it out of thecase, it is in tune.

Designed to have a "middle of the road" sound. They are realtively low "sustain", but with enough of that brightness to sound good like a hammered dulcimer should. They work equally well playing fast fiddle tunes, or slower hymns in church. An instrument with high sustain will start to sound muddy when playing faster melodies, and the notes will muddle together until it is hard to hear clearly. However these same dulcimers can sound wonderful when playing slow melodic songs. On the other hand, a very low sustain dulcimer can work justgreat for fast songs, but sound dead on slower ones; there's too much space between the notes. These instruments are designed to work equally well in all situations. They are not a compromise, one of the best hammered dulcimers money can buy.

As a part of this package you get to choose whether you want a stand for sitting while you play or a stand that you use while standing. If you order a standing stand we need to know how tall you are so your stand can be made to fit you.