Plans now available
You can either order the plans by themselves if you have studied making instruments or have made something before,
"Stick
Dulcimer plans"
Instrument, mould and Template pdf format (zip file) £3.00
Stick Dulcimer making CD(September 2008)
If you are looking for the full Stick Dulcimer making Cd available september 2008 you may be interested in the preview edition that has a very short video introduction, with an e-book that includes the full plans for the Stick Dulcimer plus mould and templates, but only the first few chapters outlining the tools, materials, using the drawings and making the mould. If you do purchase this either as a CD or download, you can have the same amount you pay taken off the finished first edition in the spring.*
The Download version of this CD is in the format of a Tar.gz zipped archive, to unzip it you need this program which is free!
Once the software is installed you just need to right click on it and "open archive".I may do a video walkthrough if its needed. but to simply run the e-book just open the HOME.htm file, if you want to make it into an autorun CD then you need to burn the 2 folders and 2 files to CD.
This Guide will look at making an instrument with a separate body and neck like a bouzouki/mandolin but also include how to make one out of a single piece of wood, plus how to make your own hard case.
*Full version out in 2008 around £15 inclusing Shipping postage
"Stick
Dulcimer making CD"
preview
edition
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)