FolkRoots Travel Dulcimer Reissue

[frets alot]

Just wondered.....has anyone heard anything more about Folkcraft's reissue of the FolkRoots Travel Dulcimer?
http://www.folkcraft.com/folkcraftcommu ... 1312492176

Have they released it yet? Is there a new expected date to release? It sounds interesting.

[KenH]

They are available for sale. One the Folkcraft website, click on Mountain Dulcimer - Ready To Ship. On the second page of that listing, down near the bottom are three Folkroots Travel Dulcimers... List price is $275.

[SteveA]

Richard should be making a new post updating the status of the travel dulcimer reissue. The short version is that it took longer than we thought to get the bracing right to give us a good consistent sound. We have a very impressive display of "testing" instruments that look pretty nice but vary tremendously in tone and volume.

We finally got a design we were happy with, and are starting to crank them out. I'm just the "shop guy", so stay tuned for Richard's updates on when demonstration models will be going out.

[frets alot]

Thanks Steve, that explains alot. Last I knew, I was supposed to be one of the auditioners. Really looking forward to it. I figured something had to be delaying it, but just hadn't heard for sure. I appreciate the update.

[kwl]

Thanks, Steve. I had seen where there was a delay. Richard mentioned that he would send all of the testers an email before shipment took place. Actually if mine doesn't come until just before Thanksgiving I could test it in flight when I fly out to California on Thanksgiving day and back the following Monday.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

[SteveA]

Richard and Nick will be contacting the testers and asking if they'd like standard (which includes 6 1/2 and 13 1/2), standard plus 1 1/2 and 8 1/2, or fully chromatic. I expect he'll be getting these emails out shortly so that I know how many of which kind to build - already gotten started though with about 50 in the works. When you consider that it's close to an hour and a half of hand work with sanding between coats and polishing with steel wool before they even get strung up, there's a lot of work left to be done.

Two other things that slowed this project down a little are that we're adding a possum board with each of the test instruments and we were also waiting on gig bags - the Folk Roots logo looks awesome on the new bags.

[frets alot]

Steve,
You've been very helpful and informative, thank you. I'm really excited to try one out (I'll probably go for the standard plus).....only problem is....it could result in a NDD for me.

[SteveA]

No problem - and feel free to give Richard a call with any questions. If you can get to our shop, the pile of these instruments is impressive. Plus the bracing on them is pretty cool looking - it is counter intuitive, but we have a lot more bracing in one of these little instruments than we have in our full sized dulcimers.

[frets alot]

Steve,
How close are you getting on contacting the auditioners of the FolkRoots travel dulcimers? Can't wait to try it out.
Thanks.

[SteveA]

Keep in mind that I just build them and only Richard really knows the schedules, but I'm guessing next week. Because it has taken us longer than we expected to get them done, Richard did discuss with me upping the number of demo instruments to make sure everyone that wanted to try one got a chance to have one in their hands before the Christmas holidays.

What I know for sure is that by around the middle of next week, we'll have close to 50 (a mix of the three standard fret styles) of them ready for lacquer. We already have a huge stack of the possum boards that have already been finished and polished, but just a couple of the instruments have made it out of the finish booth.

[frets alot]

Appreciate the update, Steve. Looking forward to it.

[Dusty Turtle]

Hey folks. I just corresponded with Richard at Folkcraft and will be a "tester" myself. Perhaps we can all interact a bit after we gain access to the dulcimers. I have one of Ron Ewing's baritone dulcimettes and am interested in comparing the two, as I believe they are about the same size.

Dusty