EUROPEAN MOUNTAIN DULCIMER 5-STRING
This European Mountain Dulcimer is, a folksy instrument in the zither family, also known as a Scheitholt. The German immigrants of the mid-1700’s brought the Scheitholt to Pennsylvania and other parts of Colonial America.
This european mountain dulcimer has 5 strings; two strings run over the frets and are noted, while the other three strings are drones. The frame is Rosewood and the soundboard is birch. There are two sound-holes on the front and one on the back. It is played like the American Mountain Dulcimer.
Traditionally, mountain dulcimers had three, equally spaced, strings: a melody string, a middle string, and a bass string. Later developments created a 4-string dulcimer by changing the string spacing and doubling the melody string. Doubling the melody string created greater volume to the melody line. Contemporary dulcimers, such as ours, include extra notches on the nut to allow more personalized string patterns.
