My New Mountain Dulcimer

At long last my mountain dulcimer arrived safe and sound! When I heard the knock on the door I took the necessary 15 steps to get there and open it, only to see the FedEx driver running back to his truck. Naturally I ran outside and jumped up and down yelling "Hey" while flailing my arms. He pointed to the side door and I found the box.

At this point, I knew I wanted to record every step of welcoming my new instrument home. So I got the camera out, it was bright overcast that day, and it had sprinkled a bit in the morning. Friday May 13th was my lucky day! I grabbed a small knife out of the kitchen and carefully opened the box.

There it was in the hardshell case, and a flyer for the Indiana Dulcimer Festifal for July 23 & 24th 2011. My vacation time is already scheduled out for the summer, so I won't be able to attend. At this point I'm very glad I had the day off to get started on my gardens, that way my new baby wouldn't be sitting all lonely by the side of the house. Of course, since it was not yet noon, I figured I wouldn't get much gardening done!

She's even more beautiful than I could imagine, I love the way the sound hole vines & hearts seem to follow the grain of the wood. Five hearts on each side, it arrived on our fifth wedding anniversary. Cradled safely in her case, my new mountain dulcimer has come home as a welcome addition to our family. Since the fifth anniversary is the wooden one, David pitched in towards the cost. The rest of it is me spoiling myself rotten, but it's been my obsession the past few months, the mountain dulcimer.

I was correct in that I did not get much gardening done that day, instead I starting going through the Fundamental lessions at DulcimerSchool.com thrilled with my new instrument. She sounds wonderful. A full sound loud enough to carry but not so loud that it competes with my voice. Just as I suspected it's the perfect compliment to it. It has some of the bell-like quality as my Kantele does as well, but better volume, and of course lots more notes to play with.

I took a few more pictures of her as well, so that all the details can be seen.