Folkcraft Player - Kelly Sasman

I had lived all my life and had never seen or heard a mountain dulcimer. In March of 2021 my husband took a road trip from Wisconsin to Louisiana. On our way home we stopped in Tennessee at what we thought was a woodworking shop. We walked in and saw what we learned were dulcimers. With no musical background the man had me playing one in 5 minutes. I purchased my first dulcimer that day.

At home I couldn’t find anyone who gave mountain dulcimer lessons let alone played one within 3 hours from me. There was someone who gave hammer dulcimer lessons so imagine my embarrassment when I didn’t know there were 2 different types of dulcimer.

It was a wonderful day when I found Mandy’s Banjo Lemonade site for lessons on the internet!  That was before she was a Folkcraft Artist. Mandy spoke highly of Folkcraft so I decided to order strings and a few other things. In lessons Mandy also talked about VSL. That is when I knew I needed/wanted a shorter VSL because the one I had measured out 27” plus.

My husband surprised me at Christmas with the Folkcraft Hourglass Northern Cherry Dulcimer Kit customized with Shamrock sound holes, a 25” VSL and a 1.5 fret. We had so much fun and great success building it together in January. I love it! So grateful to Mandy for all I’ve learned and to Folkcraft for a great instrument. 

 

Kelly Sasman from Wisconsin