The Wedding Dulcimer
I love dulcimers,
and I admit that I have D.A.D. (Dulcimer Acquisition Disease.) But Yoko and I
have a very symbiotic relationship where dulcimers are concerned. I like to play
... and Yoko likes to listen. When we started dating, I remember buying a new
dulcimer to be sent to her house. When it arrived she called and I got off work
to come over to the house. We opened it together and I played it for her ... the
two of us sitting on her orange couch. The first song she asked me to learn was
"Adel Weiss." I also learned "The Smokey the Bear Song," a
favorite from her childhood.
Yoko refers to the line of dulcimers in the living room as "Stonehenge." Sometimes I've collected dulcimers for their voices. I have a banj-mo, and a bass dulcimer. Sometimes I got them for my birthday and I got a pair to commemorate my Father when he died. So why not celebrate my wedding day with a dulcimer?
So that's exactly
what I did. I had initially decided on a Sweet Woods Traveling
Dulcimer created by David Lynch (http://www.strothers.com/sweet_woods.htm
.) You can reverse the sound board so the fret board is inside the body
...perfect for traveling ... hence 
the
name. But after a thread came up on ED (Everything Dulcimer http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/
) that talked about soprano dulcimers. I liked the idea of that and when I found
out that Dave made one ... I switched 
my order.
Thank God, Dave
is a very patient soul. He made the change. It has a walnut body with a Birdseye
maple top. The sound holes are morning glories and hearts. The choice of flower
was from a term of endearment Yoko uses. She will awake me with the
term, "Morning Glory." In Harp's own words, "What I was
going for was twofold; The stems above the heart intertwining to represent
the joining of two hearts...and below the hearts I wanted them to drape down
like ribbons from a celebration ..." I think they are very affective, not
overpowering but striking just that right balance The Birdseye top is also a
good choice. It
seems as if Tawn's Mom lucked into an antique headboard that was made of
Birdseye. As little girl, Yoko use to squint at it and see little monkey head
designs in the wood patterns. The dulcimer is currently tuned to GDG and is
almost an octave higher and the fretboard is almost 8 inches shorter that I am
use to but not unmanageable. It just needs a little practice to get the kinks
out. Things just seem to be falling into place, so it
looks like it is
earning it's name I've given it ...
"Wedded Bliss,"
or "Bliss" for short.
