"Jet Engine" Side Sound Hole [Dulcimer]

"Jet Engine" Side Sound Hole [Dulcimer]

David Schnaufer acquired this instrument in May of 2005 through an online auction on eBay. It appears to be a mid- to late 19th century instrument.

DS-16

E

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee

S. Conatser; Z. Law

28 1/2" x 7" x 1 7/8"

poplar; frets, nut, strings metal; hourglass-shape, with lower bout larger than the upper bout; top and back appear to be single pieces of wood; crack visible below raised fretboard; wood finished with light red stain; sides made from 4 pieces of wood with seams at head, tail, and waist of the instrument; no sound holes on top, but 3 sound holes in each side at the lower bout; some rodent gnawing visible in some sound holes; pencil-drawn, inch-wide cross-hatch pattern pencil-drawn around full circumference; fretboard and headstock made of oak; headstock flat with a single channel in center; holes on sides of headstock to accommodate 3 tuning pegs; currently only 1 peg in instrument; 14 brass frets, with evidence of 2 missing frets at end; frets do not produce an obvious diatonic pattern; no separate tailpiece; 3 nails serve as mounts for strings; wooden bridge that may not be original to the instrument is set into a notch in the fretboard and glued; metal nut with 6 notches where strings would be aligned; instrument in overall good condition outside of crack under fretboard;