My son and I worked on the kit and it took us about 4 hours. We had a little trouble in gluing the parts together. Two or three days later I put the strings on it. I tuned it DAD. I purchased it for the fretless. The whole idea of fretlessness is what caught my attention. It seems to me that all of the notes are on each string. If that is true, then are oriental or Greek or Indian notes also available? My mind is just not letting go. I have no interest in Picking Points. Thank you. By the way, I am 78 years old.
I bought this for my husband who just had surgery for something to do. It is much sturdier than we thought it would be. He sprayed it with clear coat and used tung oil for the fretboard. From a distance it looks like wood and it sounds pretty good. His only suggestion would be to have the strum hollow cut in it. It will soon go to our dulcimer club for younger players to enjoy. Everyone should try their hand at this.
I’m just learning how to play the Mountain dulcimer so I opted for the cardboard one to learn on. I’m glad I had my husband to help me build it! I play it daily and have very high hopes to gain skills!
I’m much impressed with the cardboard kit. Went together easily. I supplemented the instructions with the video. I didn’t put the fret board on until the top was on, it made it easier to put the top on. I had Folkcraft install the frets and tuners to save some time. I clear coated the body after it was all assembled and it makes the cardboard a little darker and more wood like. It is going to a 7 year old so I thought clear coating might protect it a bit from dirty hands! The sound is better than you would think for a cardboard instrument. All pieces fit well with not having to modify anything.
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!