Designing the Dulcimer

Every Bear Meadow is tailored to the voice, playing style, and repertoire of the musician who buys it.

I work closely with each client to ensure that you get the right Bear Meadow model for your music, and that it is voiced to complement, augment and embody your musicality, your playing style and your aesthetic taste.

I talk with each client about your musical interests and playing. Out of this conversation a specific voicing of your new dulcimer will emerge and will become the basis for the choice of tonewood. This conversation is nothing esoteric, so don't feel like you have to have special insight into the field of dulcimer-building to prepare for it--it's all about some pretty ordinary questions about you and your music, that's all.

Here are some of the leading elements that contribute to shaping the voice of a Bear Meadow Appalachian dulcimer:

• The Mold, or overall design
• The contribution of shape to voice must be considered
• The specific voicing of each dulcimer is shaped by judging its tonewood with taptone testing.
• The fretboard design plays a central role in the responsiveness and dynamic range of the mountain dulcimer