Stick Dulcimer, Lighter machine heads

I really like Gotoh style sealed tuners on my instruments, the way they fit and work smoothly but with the stick dulcimer they add weight making the neck slightly top heavy. To make allowance for this  I usually add weight in the tail piece which is 2mm solid brass and by leaving the internal linings square and the tail block a hardwood.

For my new basic Stick Dulcimer (made completely from mahogany)  I decided to try the Klusion style of tuners. Mine were the Wilkinson brand which are easily available.

To see how much weight could be saved I weighted each type of tuner.

The Klusion type was 23 grams

The gotoh mini type was 34 grams

The saving in weight for all three by switching was 33 grams between them

With them fitted the mahogany instrument did feel better balanced without the strap,  the spacing is closer than I fit on the other type and they are nearer the end but look fine.

Fitting these was a little more complicated and required buying drill bits.  Stew mac sell reamers for this type of machine head to make this easier that I may get if decide to switch.

Video soon!

                              Plans available for these instruments available from my website

Kravik lyre

This is a Kravik Lyre made by a friend of mine in Norway, Sverre Heimdal, who specialises in this model.

The Kravik Lyre is a 7 strung 14th Century lyre.   It was found in a farmhouse without any soundboard in dilapidated condition.

The original Lyre is made of pine.

Stick Dulcimer, 2013 short scale model in "Dad" tuning, part 1 Ziricot...

Michael J King, Luthier, Youtube Channel Trailerl

Making a 2 String Jouhikko

I was made aware of the potential for this instrument which dates from the 19th century by Simon Chadwick who has written an in depth article on this and made many video recordings that can be heard on YouTube.

The original which can be viewed here is made of a block of aspen, a.resonant light hardwood, with a pine soundboard and birch pegs. The soundboard original also had a birch bark strap to hold it in place but on my example I will use animal glue.

I started with a block of alder wood and marked out the instrument from my full sized plans (now included on my Lyre making CD-rom as an added extra or separately on my website here)

I then marked the straight sides of the soundbox interior using a biscuit jointer(my router was set up for something else that day but with care it worked well)

Then I used a Forster bit to hollow out the sound box.

Once this was done I used a chisel to remove the waste and clean the slanted edges in the end grain top and bottom.

A Forster bit and biscuit jointer was used to begin to open up the hand hole.

More to follow in a few months!  please feel free to comment 

Kantele Making update

I have been a full time luthier for over 10 years now and have been making Kanteles since the start.
 The main techniques of construction are fully shown in my Kantele Making CD-Rom. but there are a few differences in the finer points of making them that I wanted to share.

In the CD-ROM I suggested inserting hard maple or beech under the tuning pin holes, I now insert a whole strip of hard maple under the soundboard. These needs a 5 piece construction for the tuning/head section

It takes longer to build this way but it allows the free use of softer timber like spruce, alder or walnut and still safely use zither pins. Over time softer woods would wear down without the inserts.

It helps to plane all the timbers through a thicknesses, unlike the individual inserts that can be done by bench press drill

Note: I use miller dowels to secure the laminations of all pieces now, these are self gripping and makes gluing up si much simpler.

When we get to stringing I will show how to lay out the strings now on the finished instrument!

CD-ROM available from my website
http://www.michaeljking.com
or from my alternative blog account here:
http://kantele-making.blogspot.co.uk/

Cutting List for Stick Dulcimer making course!

One element that was missing from my original Stick Dulcimer DVD was a cutting list,   It is of course possible to work out what sizes you need from the plans and I had left that out.   Here is a general guide for future reference, These are the finished sizes so please allow for final sanding or planing by adding a little to the length,  

Neck: Gdg  492mm Long 26mm-28mm thick and 32 depth

          Dad  560mm Long 26mm-28mm thick and 32 depth

Body sides:  410 Long by 28mm wide and 1.5/1.8mm thick  (X 2)

Front and back:  350 long by 135mm wide and 3mm thick
Fingerboard: Gdg  382mm  by 26/28mm by 5.5mm
                    Dad   430mm by 26/28mm by 5.5mm

Please note,  you can make the neck of of several pieces to build up the heel and head,  you can also utilise scraps from a guitar and join up several pieces for the backs.

Plans are still available to download here:

more information on timber and materials is here: