Need sources to buy dulcimer soundboard wood

Posted by Dano Schultz on September 8, 2016 at 10:15pm

Hi folks! I need some help finding sources for pre-cut wood for a dulcimer soundboard. I'm building my first dulcimer and using some nice re-claimed wood from a piece of old family furniture. I have a variety of sizes and thicknesses of wood to work with. However I have nothing thin enough for a soundboard and no saws or planers available to me to cut something.

I need something that is ready to use, other than cutting to shape and sanding. Stewart-MacDonald has thickness-sanded bookmatched 2-piece soundboard sets of stika spruce, and I could just use that, but I would like to see what else might be available.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Replies

  • Dano Schultz September 10, 2016 at 12:45pm

    Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!  I also found this company - Woodcraft, http://www.woodcraft.com/ - that ships and has retail locations with one kinda near me. I'll be shopping them all...

    Seth, my design looks a lot like yours - a rectangle w/ humbucker pickup, etc. Yours looks like how nice I hope mine will be. Thanks for the pictures.

  • Seth Tabberer September 9, 2016 at 8:58am

    I used 1/8 birch plywood from a local craft store for this build: dulcimer

    It came in a 12"x24" size that I cut by hand into two 6"x24" sized pieces. But I've seen other craft stores that stock sizes that wouldn't need to be cut at all.

  • Scott aka Farmer Ted September 9, 2016 at 7:43am

    Check out the scroll-ready wood from Ocooch Hardwoods. The have a variety of woods, exotic and domestic, in thicknesses of 1/16" or 1/8", and up to 12" wide. Each piece will be 24" long and their prices are reasonable too.

  • Kirk Bolas September 9, 2016 at 1:00am
    Dano, as you're here in cigar box instrument land, I reckon that you're not looking to build something that has the sensibilities of fine old world European craftsmanship. Please pardon me if my supposition is in error. You might check out IKEA's as the shelving and some of the smaller furniture pieces (like an end table or bedside table) and book cases use thin wood panels for the non-weight bearing, non critical portions of some of the products. It's wood, but it's raison d'être is for aesthetic purposes only, so it's pretty thin to keep costs down. The other thing I'm thinking of is that I vaguely recall GB Gitty having a precut, DIY box kit that one can purchase for assembling an instrument that's essentially a cigar box guitar, but without having to pay a premium for a cigar box with art work. It seems to me it was only about $10 and the top on that might work. In either case you'll have leftovers suitable for other projects when your done. Just a thought and I figure it has to be more economical than the grade of spruce that Stew Mac is selling for making a flat top acoustic guitar. I love Stew Mac, but they're kinda pricey sometimes.
  • Bert Bennett September 8, 2016 at 11:21pm

    WWW.Folkcraft.com has tops/bottoms, fretboards, sides, heads, everything you need.  Good variety of woods.  Prices are reasonable.

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