This little instrument is a great start to instrument making, using the same skils as guitar or mandolin making but on a smaller scale.
I am uploading all the video content free, the plans if you wish are available for a small fee, there will be info packs or discounts for past purchasers also when the final cd-rom is available.
News:On
Myspace, Owen
Niblock Playing the Frog Song
Here is an instrument
that
combines the portability of the guitar family with
the simplicity of the Mountain Dulcimer, Tuned to "Gdg" in
the sound
samples below, or in "Dad" tuning like the upper 3 courses of a Irish
Bouzouki or an Mountain Dulcimer. With either tuning you can
play both chordal and picking styles
easily.
You
can play a lot of the music written for the Appalachian Dulcimer as
well as some Banjo and mandolin tunes in the keys of G, d etc. The
standard instrument has the same scale length as a guitar.Each of these instruments is constructed in the same way as a fine mandolin with internal linings and A-style bracing.
I pride myself on fast necks that have the profile of a violin, and tone and volume beyond its size.
I have called these instruments Stick Dulcimers as its a copyright/trademark free Generic name that anyone can use.
Steel string 1 / Steel string 2
Nylon Strung 1/ Nylon Strung 2
Model 2 £275
Bound
version with native/north American cherry wood or walnut body,
sycamore/ cherry neck and Baltic spruce. fingerboard in plantation
grown rosewood 
Figured maple with binding, Alpine spruce and ebony fingerboard. Nylon or steel strung
Model 3b £350
Indian rosewood, bound, alpine spruce and ebony fingerboard Nylon or steel strung. (note new nylon strung models have a fixed bridge)
I can add mini scratch plates for an extra £4
Electric Stick-dulcimer
solid ash body, maple neck with plantation rosewood fretboard from £375
Owen Niblock
Owen has been playing one of my stick Dulcimers since the spring of 2003, probably the most travelled Dulcimer I have made!
He has a MYSPACE.com site which has tune samples of the famous
"Frog Song" You can access it here:
"The
first interval of the night was upon us. Yes, we had two intervals
tonight. Then it was the open mic spot, which tonight was filled by the
wonderfully named Owen Niblock. Owen came on stage carrying a very odd
instrument, which after much research I have discovered is called a
dulcimer. Owen performed a song about frog skimming and told us some
laidback anecdotes. Truth be told, it wasn’t particularly
amusing
but the dulcimer kept us entertained, if only as most people were
wondering what on earth it was."
Quote
taken from here
Owens instrument in its
case (It has a pau rosa fingerboard BTW)