Simplicity cardboard dulcimers - evaluation

DAVID CROSS: Dulcimers are a folk instrument, easy to build and easy to play. They evolved in Appalachia before the Civil War. Because the full-length fretboard carries the string tension, there's a lot of room for improvisation in soundbox design. Early builders made dulcimers in a variety of shapes, using readily available materials. I've continued that tradition of using readily available materials by die-cutting soundboxes from 275-lb strength cardboard. Cardboard is amazingly expensive, but cheaper than wood and much cheaper to finish, bend, and glue. Its acoustical properties continued to surprise me until someone pointed out that expensive hi-fi speakers are made of a cone of cardboard around an electromagnet.

Cardboard holds up well, sounds almost as good as wood (better than most plywood), and doesn't cost much. If you end up with an unused dulcimer, you didn't spend much on it. If you fall in love with the instrument, you're a beter-informed buyer when you later buy yourself a good wooden one. And you have a camping dulcimer to lend to friends, give to your children, take places you wouldn't dare take your new expensive instrument. Once painted, the cardboard soundboxes are remarkably durable. Also easily replaced, should your canoe capsize.

These dulcimer kits have three strings. The one-piece cardboard soundbox is painted inside and out, then folded to shape and glued to the fretboard in one step.

COPYRIGHT 1985 Point Foundation
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