The Dulcicaster - part Telecaster, part dulcimer...

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Herve writes:

Here are some pics from my friend's "dulcicaster"; it's a mix between a dulcimer and a classic Telecaster body. You play it on your lap. You'll notice that it's got 4 tuning pegs but only 3 strings on it. My friend and fellow musician Dominique Duxin decided NOT to use a double center string like on the traditional dulcimer but a single one so, if he changes his mind, he can go back to the usual tuning. The instrument is usually tuned D,A,D or E,A,E but many other alternate tunings are possible. It has been made by Guy Oudenot, luthier at Saint Brieuc. To my opinion the choice of these pickups (Gibson) is not very good because the polepieces don't and can't match the strings causing a lack of power and thus noise when you push the gain on the amp. A "rail" pickup should be much more adapted. Besides, notice the frets; dulcimer is a modal instrument on which you cannot usually play all notes. Dominique had some "semifrets" added in order to be able to play not only traditional. In fact he plays very electric. Check that on our blog. We are a strange trio playing many different instruments. The Dulcicaster sounds more harsh and trebly than an electric guitar but that's what we were after. I hope that this pleases you and can inspire other players.

Thanks for showing us this unique instrument, Harve. I'm not so sure that the choice of pickups would be that big a problem. Many electric guitars have pickups with polepieces that do no align correctly beneath the strings. I don't think it's as important as people seem to think it is. But I agree that a rail pickup would have been more visually pleasing, or perhaps some lipstick tubes?

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

The Bassimer - an intriguing bass guitar/dulcimer hybrid

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The Bassimer is a bass guitar/dulcimer hybrid designed and built by John Shelton. It has a 30" scale length and features a fretless low D and a two strings arranged as a paired course in the highest position. The tuning is D1, A1, D2, D2/D3. The paired string course also has its own sustainer, an EBow built into the body. It's probably easiest to let these videos do the talking!



Thanks to Buck for bringing this very interesting instrument to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

The Omstrument

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In our previous post about Uli Jon Roth's Sky Guitar, Bertram, my co-blogger here at Guitarz, made a note in the comments appealing for "Less frets, more strings!"

Is this enough strings for you, Bertram?

With a combined total of 46 strings, the Omstrument is the creation of Jack Haas and is a gestalt instrument comprising harp, guitar, longneck dulcimer, strumstick, and tanpura. And before you ask, yes, they are supposed to be played together at the same time.

Perhaps it's easier to let one of Mr Haas' videos do the talking:

Before anyone else comments, yes I am aware of Pat Metheny's 42-string Pikasso guitar created by luthier Linda Manzer. It's a crazy-looking guitar with strings all over the place, but surely more portable than the Omstrument!

G L Wilson

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Electric Pin

This is an electrified version of a traditional Thai 3-stringed folk instrument.

You can see from the positions of the frets that this is a diatonic instrument, and reminds me of the mountain dulcimer, Strumstick and similar instruments.

It's tuning can vary depending on what key you want to play in. For example, for Am the strings would be tuned E-A-E.

Doublenecked DulciCaster

Here's an oddity for you. It's half electric guitar, half electric mountain dulcimer. It also has the guts of a Line 6 Variax guitar.

For more details check out www.DulciCaster.com and check out the videos of DulciCasters in action.

Elloree Guitars: great looking acoustic and electric guitars, dulcimers and mandolins from this builder in West Monroe, LA.

The Musical Instrument Makers Forum: Acoustic guitar building, electric guitar making, archtop guitar building, violin making, dulcimer making, mandolin building, banjo building, or any other type of lutherie; pickup winding and rewinding; drum making; flute and recorder making and repair; brass instrument building and repair; and more.

Bradford Reed and his Amazing Pencilina - Bradford fights and tames the idiosyncrasies of the pencilina, an original instrument of his own design and construction. The pencilina is an electric ten stringed collision of the hammer dulcimer, slide guitar, koto and fretless bass with six pickups of varied types. It is struck with sticks, plucked and bowed, giving Reed and incredibly wide sonic palette.