At Folk Notes, all our mountain dulcimers are selected and set up to bring you the best quality sound for the price.

Folk Notes BanjMo with nylon gigbag - $300.00

 
Soundboard woods vary with availability, check in-stock dulcimers.

(left)Walnut Creek Mountain Dulcimer
w/gigbag - $272.00
Please indicate soundboard preference in textbox on order page.

McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers

We have a number of McSpadden mountain dulcimer models in stock.   The hourglass shape of the standard model comes from an old traditional design.  McSpadden dulcimers have been built since 1962,  and have become a standard.  With more McSpaddens out there than any other mountain dulcimer brand, it's no wonder that there have been more National Mountain Dulcimer Championship winners playing McSpadden dulcimers than any other maker.  We carry McSpadden Standard and Ginger hourglass mountain dulcimers based on McSpadden's original design, with many refinements through the years.  The most recent and very significant change, is that all McSpaddens now have solid wood book-matched backs instead of the instrument grade plywood McSpadden has been putting on their mountain dulcimer backs for years.  The sound quality of McSpadden dulcimers is now better than ever, in all their mountain dulcimer models.  Since switching to solid wood backs, each model of McSpadden mountain dulcimer now sings out with it's distinctive individual sound.

Our best selling McSpadden has been the Ginger.  A smaller dulcimer than the McSpadden Standard, it can be tuned to as low as mixolydian DAd  tuning and as high as a fifth high,(A-e-a).  The Ginger has a pleasant, mellow sound with a lot of punch for it's size, a 23 1/4" fret scale, is a joy to play, and great for carrying on trips.  We stock McSpadden Ginger mountain dulcimers in several wood combinations.  The sound of all the McSpadden mountain dulcimer models have benefitted from the recent change to solid wood backs, and while each model dulcimer has a different sound, you will get great sound quality from any of the various wood combinations. We have Ginger mountain dulcimers in all walnut, walnut/spruce, and walnut/redwood dulcimers.  The walnut Ginger dulcimer has a strong sweet voice, the walnut/spruce dulcimer has good volume and very clear tones, which work well for all styles of play and all types of music.  The Ginger walnut/redwood mountain dulcimer has a bold voice with the mellowest sound.   Especially considering the small size of the Ginger mountain dulcimers, they are great for performing, and have a strong enough voice for fingerpicking or flatpicking as well as more traditional styles of playing.

We carry the McSpadden baritone dulcimer in cherry/redwood, which have a rich full voice, great for accompaniment or solo performances on hymns and ballads where the deeper mellow sound really helps to set the mood.

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Folkroots Mountain Dulcimers

Folkroots mountain dulcimers have been built since 1968 and have large deep bodies, giving them more presence, good for playing for, or with groups of people.  Folkroots was bought by Folkcraft, moved to Connecticut in 1989, and now in Indiana.  Their deep, wide bodies were designed for a 29 1/4" fret scale, but mountain dulcimer playing styles have changed over the years, with more chords being used now, so a 27" fret scale is standard on Folkroots dulcimers we carry, making chording easier.  These legendary mountain dulcimers have been used in many recordings,  from the mountain dulcimer revival period of the 70's, up through the present.  We stock them in several different combinations of woods.

Folkroots mahogany body, spruce soundboard mountain dulcimer with leafheart soundholes,  including brown lozenge shape padded gigbag.  -  $330.00  Pictured below.

                       

We stock mountain dulcimers by Folkcraft, formerly of Connecticut, and now moved to Indiana, who have been building folk instruments since 1974, in several different models.  The standard hourglass and teardrop dulcimers have a traditional sound and shape, 27" fretscale, and geared tuners on scrollheads.
Folkcraft has mountain dulcimers featuring deluxe design features like scalloped fretboards(underneath), overlays, and two piece book-matched back with inlay strip for reasonable prices.

Folkcraft FSH-Ch cherry hourglass
 dulcimers(right), with scalloped
 fretboards(underneath), a very
 clear and balanced sound.

 
F-holes and padded nylon gigbag
Price- $285.00    

New Design! Celtic Shield Soundhole!

Folkcraft FSH-Ch cherry hourglass dulcimer pictured on the left.  With
nylon gigbag.

Price - $285.00



We have Folkcraft Cherry and Walnut hourglass shaped
mountain dulcimer kits with pre-installed frets, same size
and shape as the FSH-Ch dulcimers.  Leave message
 on order page for wood choice

Folkcraft Hourglass Dulcimer Kit
 Price - $135.00

The Folkcraft CSH-BW pictured to the right, is one of Folkcraft's smaller bodied "custom" dulcimers.  It has a walnut body, butternut soundboard, scalloped fretboard(underneath), purple heart overlay, and two piece book-matched back with inlay strip.  We currently have this model available with Folkcraft's circle heart soundholes, instead of f-holes as pictured.
 
Circle Heart Soundhole design.
Folkcraft CSH-BW walnut/butternut, maple fretboard, purple heart overlay,

 and gigbag - Price: $360.00    

The Folkcraft CF series Custom dulcimers are larger bodied, with a well balanced sweet sound, and wonderful clarity from highest to lowest tones.  They come in two models(below), Padauk with Spruce soundboard, and Curly Maple with Western Red Cedar soundboard.  They include deluxe features listed above, with Maple fingerboard and contrasting overlay, position dots, lustrous hand-rubbed finish, & Stewart MacDonald planetary gears on traditional scroll head dulcimers, or sealed gear tuners on Custom flat peghead mountain dulcimers.

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Folkcraft CF200 Custom MD,
maple body/western red cedar soundboard, maple fretboard. Overlaid flat peghead, similar to NAMM dulcimer(bottom left)
Woods are as pictured on middle dulcimer, with
circle heart soundholes.
Price - $455.00

Folkcraft Teardrop dulcimer - walnut/butternut teardrop
 mountain dulcimer, pictured on right, weeping heart soundholes,
 and scalloped maple fretboard w/purple heart overlay.  Great
 looking and solid mellow sound. Folkcraft TD walnut/butternut w/gigbag - $350.00

Walnut/Spruce w/Dove soundholes, carry bag
(Dulcimer on left)-$290
 
Highly Figured Walnut w/f-holes, and carry bag
Not pictured - $300.00

Black Rose Dulcimers
 
 Black Rose Appalachian built mountain dulcimers by Bill Todd, are individually made and designed with a variety of options available, such as scalloped fretboards, overlays, Galax backs, with a large number of woods and soundholes available.   They deliver good volume and are at their best played traditional style, or strummed in a chord/melody style.  Each dulcimer has a distinctive voice, ranging from bright mountainy highs to sweet mellow  sounds, depending on the options and woods used.

Black Rose mountain dulcimer, Walnut/Western Red Cedar, Galax back, Ebony fretboard overlay.      (Dulcimer to the left side of picture is the same model except for the fretboard overlay)    Black Rose Walnut/WRC Galax dulcimer
$300.00 w/gigbag

We carry sturdy 3 string cardboard mountain dulcimers, already built, which come with
 geared tuners, and include a 6 1/2 fret and a dulcimer learning book.
Cardboard mountain dulcimer: Price - $62.00 Out of stock