Question: How much do your dulcimers cost? Answer: The base price for one of my mountain dulcimers is $400. Certain hardwoods cost me significantly more when I buy the boards as raw material so I must add a "premium" to the price when I build from those woods. The extra cost for each of these woods is shown on the Prices & Ordering page. Question: How long does it take to build a dulcimer? Answer: This is a more difficult question than it might seem. I make my living writing software for a major Californian bank, but my passion, that which gives me joy, is instrument building. I write software during the day and make my instruments in the evenings and on the weekends. Because of this it usually takes a couple of months from when I receive an order until I can complete the instrument. How many HOURS does it take me to build a dulcimer? That depends on the raw materials (some woods work much easier than others), the amount of inlay, perfling, binding, complexity of the sound hole shape, etc. Question: What kind of finish do you use? Answer: I use a traditional French Polish technique. This is the traditional finish for very high end classical guitars. It consist of dissolving shellac flakes in alcohol at the proper dilution or "cut". I use very high quality raw shellac and I mix it in small batches as I need it. I then prepare the wood with hand scrapers and sand paper. Once ready for finishing I wipe on a thin "spit coat" of shellac to seal the wood and to prevent bleeding of colors from one wood to another. For the next step I hand rub the wood with alcohol and very fine pumice powder. This fills any pores in the grain of the wood and makes the wood surface even smoother. Then I hand rub in several more layers of shellac. The final product is a beautiful, smooth finish that is very thin so it won't effect the acoustics of the wood. Question: Doesn't French polish wear off? Answer: French polish is a traditional wood finishing technique that has been used for hundreds of years on fine furniture. When used on a guitar there is a problem though. The spot where the players right arm rest on the lower bout of the guitar is quite easily damaged by wear and sweat. However, a dulcimer has no such spot where the player is always resting their hand or arm. So while there have been problems with french polished guitars it's still a very good and very strong finish for dulcimers. Question: OK, so where are those guitars you build? Why don't you sell them? Answer: I am very aware that my business centers entirely around the quality of my work. I'm holding off of presenting my guitars to the public until I'm absolutly sure that I can present you, my customer, with an instrument I am truely proud of. I want my instruments to be something beyond what you can buy from a factory; something beyond what hangs on the wall of a typical music store. So right now, I am building guitars for friends and family for the cost of materials as I hone my skills. When you see guitars for sale on this web site you'll KNOW that they are of excellent quality. I feel very confident with the quality of my mountain dulcimers. I wouldn't sell them if I didn't feel that I was giving you the best quality I'm capable of producing. But for right now, the guitars go to a very select list of friends and family. Question: How do I get on that list? Answer: Well, you could marry my sister.

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