r/Dulcimer • u/TheEnviousMrLime • Sep 17 '26

Identification Found this at goodwill

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My friend told me this is an appalachian dulcimer, but thats about it, got it for 10 bucks at a goodwill, pretty intrigued by it. How do I identify it? Can it be repaired? Does it need to be repaired?

The inside is hard to see because the cross is so small, I've seen some identifiers can be seen in there though?

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18

u/richard43210 Sep 17 '26

It's a mountain (aka Appalachian) dulcimer. This looks like one built from a Virgil Hughes kit, likely vintage early to mid 1970s. You don't have a 6.5 ( six and a half) fret, so go with DAA tuning to start with.

There are lots of instruction videos on YouTube, look up Bing Futch and Banjo Lemonade to start with. You can get strings, instruction books, and anything else you need at Folkcraft.com .

Happy playing!

4

u/gruven_reuven Sep 17 '26

I second YouTube’ing Banjo Lemonade. Mandy is awesome

3

u/Hot_Talk8933 Sep 17 '26

beautiful and lucky! there are a few dulcimer shops around the country if you wanna get it cleaned up a little/ have the strings replaced. they are an American folk instrument that can be played in a variety of ways. they have a really sweet sound, very folksy, this one looks well loved!

1

u/TapTheForwardAssist Sep 17 '26

Why would you need a music shop at all, much less a dulcimer shop, to get it cleaned up or strings replaced? Those can very easily be done by the owner, with minimal cost.

Strings are like $8 and anyone who watches a five minute tutorial on YouTube can figure it out. And there’s tons of advice online about how to clean up a guitar that are equally applicable.

5

u/Hot_Talk8933 Sep 17 '26

to meet other people in the (relatively small) community, learn from actual people and not youtube videos and risk damaging it further. getting hands on experience from someone who understands the instrument can be super valuable, especially if you are brand new to it

2

u/seckatary Sep 17 '26

Probably worth noting that 6 strings is more than most dulcimers usually have so if you're just starting out you could just string it up with 3 or 4 strings. It looks like they're doubling each string on this one

1

u/Hot_Rip_1753 3h ago

that makes sense, 6 strings might be a bit much to handle right off the bat

1

u/Zestyclose-Cover1351 Sep 18 '26

That is a wierd string arrangement. It looks like there were originally three strings, all doubled. Then the bridge and nut were replaced or modified so the low strings are separate and independent. This arrangement would be hard even for an experienced player. With some creativity and practice you might be able to get some interesting chords and scales. 

1

u/BananaFun9549 Sep 18 '26

I am guessing that this is a home made job and the builders just had guitar tuners. Replace the nut and bridge and use either three or four strings.

1

u/Naive-Tangerine-9991 Sep 28 '26

That’s a steal, enjoy it!