Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 23, 2018 at 11:57am

Thanks Gary. The neck sits on and is attached to the top whether it's one piece or two. One tricky thing is that many dulcimers have a "hollow" neck to give added resonance. It's not a requirement but I think the extra work involved is worth the effort. Hmmm, now that you mention a two piece top butted to the neck, that might be an interesting experiment!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on January 23, 2018 at 12:11pm

Hollow Neck? That's interesting. I recall that there's some Lap Steel guitars from back in the 1920's and 1930's that had hollow necks by the brand name Wiessenborn.

It would be interesting to make one.

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Permalink Reply by Milt Haselmire on January 23, 2018 at 12:48pm

Weissenborns are still made by several companies. Their heyday was during the Hawaiian music craze of the early 1900's.  Good ones are worth a few thousand dollars. Even the kids like them.

Weissenborn

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Permalink Reply by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on January 23, 2018 at 1:34pm

Great info, gents!  So I assume a 'hollow neck' looks like a C-section (half of an I-beam) looking in cross-section?  Or truly hollow?   Wow - my head is exploding!  I've seen some dulcimers with 'arches'  out along the length of the neck:

I don't think this is what you mean?  Much easier to do, however!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 23, 2018 at 1:57pm

Very close to the I beam concept Gary.  What I usually do is make a 3 piece neck. The top is about 3/16". I glue 2 sides on which are about 1/4" thick and however tall you want the neck up from the body. The sides are flush with the top so frets run all the way across. I'll then cut out those arches you mentioned which act as sound ports. I'll try to get a picture of what I'm talking about since reading this can be confusing.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 23, 2018 at 2:45pm

I did a quick mock up using some scraps. It might give a better idea of how I make my hollow necks.The top pic shows the top with sides attached flush. The frets go on this surface The bottom pic is the hollow bottom which gets attached to the box. Looks kind of like a long skinny miter box. I often cut 3 arches into the sides.

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Permalink Reply by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on January 23, 2018 at 5:58pm

Thanks Jim!   I see what you're talking about.   Pretty cool - thanks for sharing the details on this technique.  I will definitely have to try building one now!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on January 24, 2018 at 12:40am

Ooops, that should have read 3/8" for the top piece. 3/16" would be way too thin.

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Permalink Reply by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on January 23, 2018 at 1:35pm

PS - I love that video link, Milt!   Very impressive!

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Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on January 24, 2018 at 1:11am

6 string cigar box mountain dulcimer, ...

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Permalink Reply by Gary W aka Rev. Bluejeans on January 24, 2018 at 4:20am

Very nice, Randy!  

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on January 24, 2018 at 10:38am

Hi, yes hollow necks are and old idea, I have a English 1930's Windsor 5 string Zither banjo with an hollow neck. I has slits just under the fretboard in the neck as soundholes.

When I built dulcimers, back in the day I always made hollow necks.

Not only but also, a Weisenbourn slide guitar does not have a hollow neck as such, but more of a hollow body that runs from tail to peghead and goes narrower under the fretboard area.

Here's a photo of one of mine that I built a while ago.

Cheers Taff

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