Mountain Dulcimer Building

Mold and Peghead

First I had to decide on a shape. Teardrop, hourglass or ellipsoid. After reading the archive articles regarding shape and how it affected the tone I decided on a simple ellipse, similar to the very early designs from our forefathers. This also helped greatly in the bending of the sides department.

This shows the mold I made out of 3/4" fir plywood. It is only 1 1/2" deep but that was OK. for my method of building. The little pegs are very handy for the quick alignment of the back and top whenever time is important during the gluing operations.

This shows the making of the peghead. I used some birdseye maple 1/16" x 3/4" in between the three fingers of walnut to give me a little contrast and also to hide or cover up the five screws which I put laterlly across the fingers because I wasn't confident that the glue would be enough to hold them and the tension of the strings. I also had to be careful where I put them because the holes for the tuners didn't leave me much room for error.

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