I didn’t know anything about luthiering so I got a kit for a dulcimer, a pretty simple 3-4 string box popular in Appalachia and tuned in the diatonic scale. I had no idea what a diatonic scale was, I didn’t even know that what I learned in grade school band was a chromatic scale. The dulcimer is made of maple back and sides with a cedar top and mahogany fret box and head. I whittled the head in the shape of an eagle head, carved the fret nut & saddle from deer antler, and gave it s-shaped sound holes midway along the sides of the fret box, which extends the length of the instrument. Slots adjacent to the fret box saddle are supposed to enhance the sound. I wouldn’t know, I never learned to tune the thing, much less play it. It was a stepping stone to bigger things.
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