Custom Sound Holes

December 24, 2021 - Custom Sound Holes

Happy Friday, Folkcraft Friends, 

Folkcraft is sometimes dismissed as a "factory" and that's about as far from the truth as your home kitchen being a "factory." There are a whopping three of us in the shop: me, my dad (Jim), and one other builder (Cheyenne). We have great tools, and could probably turn out dozens of instruments a week, but we generally create a handful of instruments each week. It certainly isn't high volume.

Why?

There are lots of reasons. We're more interested in quality, unique instruments than in making hundreds of the same dulcimer. And we're happy to customize a special instrument for a player - scale length, fret patterns, things like that - we can customize while half-asleep. Some customization is more complicated, though.

The photos below show the player's initials engraved into the top of the instrument, with a nice decorative border around the initials. And for a cool "extra special" touch, the player's signature is engraved into the side of the fret board.