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Folkcraft® Cardboard Dulcimer Kit

Item Number 2311071

Regular price $85.00

Our corrugated paper or cardboard dulcimer kit is just what you've been trying to find! To build a dulcimer, all of the paper parts are cut out, and ready to glue. The fretboard is made of a solid hardwood, is slotted for nut, bridge, and frets. It also has holes pre-drilled to accommodate the machine heads. Our cardboard mountain dulcimer kits have a fretboard with a 27" VSL (Vibrating String Length).

Detailed instructions are provided, and this cardboard dulcimer kit should take you about two hours to build. You'll need the following tools: a small hammer (for tapping in the frets and anchor pins); a drill with #49 bit (for drilling the holes for the anchor pins and machine head screws); a small Phillips head screwdriver (for installing the machine head screws); a piece of sandpaper, either 120 grit or 220 grit (for fitting the nut and bridge pieces); a pair of wire cutters (for trimming the frets and cutting the strings to length); and a flat file (for finishing the ends of the frets). You'll also need to provide some white or yellow glue (for assembling the cardboard parts).

People ask us how our cardboard dulcimer kits sound. They are the best cardboard dulcimer builds we've ever heard. The Folkcraft cardboard dulcimers have a sweet mellow sound. They don't have the volume of a cherry or walnut dulcimer, though. If you want a loud instrument, choose something in solid wood.

Customer Reviews

Based on 26 reviews
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E
EN
What a pleaseure!

This instrument is a pleasure to play! I am a non-musician in a family of classical musicians. The series of videos showing how to build this kit are extremely helpful as they demonstrate what would be hard to show in print. I polyurethaned the fret board and painted the cardboard with a can of "old gold" paint before gluing the fretboard on (masking out the glue area on both) and the result is beautiful. In my retirement I am now learning to play an instrument for the first time in my life using this dulcimer and loving it!

T
Tim Straub
Great experience all around

This dulcimer kit was almost as fun to build, as it is to play. Very simple instructions, and it went together perfectly. We have really enjoyed it.

We will probably buy another one very soon.

M
Mary Smith

Great product and great service!

W
William McMichen
For a cardboard body, it sounds great

The kit was easy to assemble. But I had Folkcraft to finish the fretboard. Well worth the extra coast. I am very satisfied wit my dulcimer

L
Laura Bell
Quality Kit with Great Options

I was able to get a customized fretboard (25" VSL, chromatic) with this kit for a reasonable upcharge since it had to be crafted manually.

It was totally fun designing and painting the body. I sanded out a string hollow, leaving out a few of the highest frets which I never use, and left the highest notes diatonic. The fretboard is high quality and, even if the cardboard body gets completely destroyed (but it's stronger than it looks), this fretboard will live on as part of another instrument.

The sound is sweet and warm, not very loud, but you can install a pickup easily. I left the top unglued so I could continue to fiddle with the placement of the pickup.