Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make a quick, acoustic dulcimer from a single piece of wood…
Start with a nice chunky bit of timber:
Trim a piece off the end:
Trim a thin piece off the top, the thinner the better as this will be your soundboard:
This was much thicker than it should have been…. still worked though!
Hollow out the plank by any means necessary
Place and glue the top back on:
And the end bit
Make a few small holes on top, or cut away fancy shapes as you see fit.
Add a few eyelets top and bottom:
Ads tuning pins. I used piano pins as I happened to have spares .. HERE IS MY GUIDE TO DIY TUNING PINS IF YOU NEED ALTERNATIVE IDEAS
Add strings, use dowels at both ends as a nut and a bridge:
Tune to something like fifths, ADA, DAD, GCG etc.
I completely estimated where the frets should go based on if it sounded nice or not!
Vulpestruments 