It has never been easier to be wrong in predicting where technology will take us.
By Butch Ross
“Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop.” – Time Magazine, 1966
“I predict that the internet …in 1996 it will catastrophically implode.” – Robert Metcalf, CEO of 3com and inventor of Ethernet, 1995
“The idea of a personal communicator in every pocket is nothing more than a pipe-dream fuelled by greed.” – Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, 1992
“There is no chance of the iPhone ever gaining significant market share.” – Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, 2007
It has never been easier to be wrong in predicting where technology will take us next. Indeed, in the last few years it’s been hard to keep up. Social media, 3D printing and AI aren’t even old enough to vote, but they are so pervasive it’s easy to forget that in the ’90s, we used to write letters and make long-distance phone calls. But while it seems like a “Brave New World” is crashing down on us, the truth is, a lot of “cutting edge” technology has been filtering in for a minute.
While on tour in 2009, I stopped by Folkcraft Instruments to play a lunchtime concert, the way celebrities do at the Taylor Guitar Factory. Folkcraft isn’t a “factory,” and I’m not a celebrity, but it was close enough – I showed up and played while they all ate sandwiches.
Afterward, Richard Ash showed me around the shop and explained how they operated. They were using computers not just to maintain their print music inventory, but also to track what dulcimers and elements of dulcimers needed to be built. Every day when they walked into the factory, they would get a little email explaining to them what needed to be done that day. One day might be dedicated to bending sides, another to cutting tops or assembling bodies. But the computer was determining how many needed to be made, what woods to use, and so on.
The fashioning of the instruments, the sanding, priming, and finishing, the stringing and the setups, all of the things that needed to be done by hand, were done by hand. And anything else that a machine could do better than a human, the machines were taking care of. It was an absolutely brilliant way to build dulcimers, one that I’m still really impressed with.
That was 15 years ago.
While there are a handful of people who still build dulcimers completely by hand, using hand tools (Doug Berch, Dwain Wilder, and Jerry Rockwell immediately come to mind), some of your favorite builders – and some of the best builders – are using computerized tools to help them build instruments and take the drudgery out of some of the more tedious and error-prone aspects of building the instruments.
To be clear, nobody is building an instrument hands-free. The most significant aspects of construction must be done by hand, but the technology is with us and has been for quite some time. While it may occasionally lead to foreign-made junk dulcimers like First Act, Apple Creek, or Roosebeck, it also allows true artisans to build great and beautiful objects better, faster, and cheaper.
“Some of your favorite builders – and some of the best builders – are using computerized tools to help them build instruments and take the drudgery out of some of the more tedious and error-prone aspects of building the instruments.”
Butch Ross
The most recent technology to be introduced into dulcimer construction, and I mean just recently, is the 3D printer. Robert Stephens of Stephens Lutherie has spent the last 3½ years developing largely 3D-printed dulcimers made of wood and a corn-based plastic filament.
Bob has been building for about 45 years but only in earnest since he retired a few years ago. He is best known for working with Aaron O’Rourke to develop a nylon-string dulcimer, but all of his dulcimer designs are full of wildly innovative ideas. One innovation is an I-beam running through the center of the body that allows the fretboard to be suspended above the top of the instrument. Another is a second bottom, like a possum board, that lives inside the instrument.
The idea for a 3D-printed dulcimer began when he discovered printing material that was similar in strength and response to traditional wood. And while the resulting dulcimers are mostly plastic, Bob says it’s still “better than cutting down a 200 year old tree.” They also sound extraordinarily similar to traditionally built dulcimers – especially his own wooden ones.
I should also say that while I have been involved with the development of the 3D-printed dulcimer, I do not intend for this to be some sort of infomercial for Bob’s dulcimers. But Bob is the only builder currently working with 3D printers, so he’s the guy to talk to. That said, I will admit, I am a fan.
Both Aaron O’Rourke and I have helped test-drive his instruments as he makes them, offering our feedback. Despite my involvement, I actually knew very little about what got him started making these instruments. So I called him up and asked.
He explained, “The thought at the time was that I had more orders than I could fill on the wooden instruments, primarily nylon [stringed ones]. I had a substantial waiting list, and I was just falling farther and farther behind. So I thought, is there a way to make these faster? Also crossing my mind, is there a way to make a quality instrument less expensive? That was a driver. And a third element of it all was, I’m 76 and I may not have the luxury of a big shop at my disposal. Is there a way that I could make instruments with minimal equipment? And once I got into it a little bit, it just became a challenge [with a laugh].”
Robert faced a plethora of challenges with the early 3D printers: they were not large enough to make a single body, they could not produce anything with the level of detail or precision he required, and things came out warped. Even as he solved these issues with stopgaps and printers he built himself, new technology was being developed that finally allowed him to print a large enough dulcimer body. And I mean, BRAND new technology. I asked him if he could have built these instruments even three years ago. “No” was his reply.
Bob has moved beyond the basic prototype he introduced to me just 2 years ago to a more advanced model that is essentially two or three parts. And that’s just the beginning. Even since this interview, which happened shortly before Christmas of 2023, Bob has redesigned the headstock and end block to be one piece of printed plastic and began working with an extruded aluminum tube to replace the neck.
While he plans to keep building his all-wood steel- and nylon- stringed instruments (with “lots of bling”) and hybrid 3D-printed dulcimers with and without HyVibe units (see sidebar), he’s also looking at creating a dulcimer that is almost 100% 3D-printed.
Price is the motivator here, but not for the reasons you might think. Bob says the goal is to get a high-quality instrument into the hands of beginners for around $500. Less, if possible. But the sale isn’t even a sale. Bob will give you the instrument in exchange for a donation to one of a list of charities he supports.
HX Dulcimer
- Vince Haley is an industrial designer and early adopter of CAD technology which he used throughout the HX development process.
- He chose the name HX (H for Haley, X the Roman numeral ten) as a way to include all ten members of his family and perhaps inspire them to take up the craft.
- Noting that “bending the sides and joining them to the back was the hardest part of building traditional dulcimers,” he developed a curved, quasi-boat shape and selected a high-impact polystyrene, which he thermoformed into a single body.
- A hybrid-style dulcimer, the top and back are wood, but because of the design, needed no additional bracing.
- They have a full, warm tone with plenty of volume, but after the 26th build, the family ceased production.
- While hard to find, they remain wonderful instruments, slightly ahead of the curve, perhaps a harbinger of changes on the horizon.
I have a replica of a 1939 Ed Thomas brilliantly recreated by New York builder Bernd Krause. It’s amazing to compare it to that first McSpadden I bought 20 years ago. Even though McSpadden strives to build a consistent, quality instrument that adheres to the traditions of the past, the two instruments share little more than the same shape. That may be a bit of an overstatement; maybe not apples and oranges, but oranges and clementines for sure.
So much so with the 3D-printed dulcimer. It’s not a new instrument. Like any box zither going back to Ed Thomas, the Scheitholt, or even that thing in the 16th-century Robert Fludd drawing, it’s a musical instrument trying to solve the same set of problems.
Bob is free in sharing his ideas and what he’s doing with others, so it will be interesting to see what happens as this “bleeding edge” technology becomes mundane and commonplace. Like the song says, “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.”
Ross, a mountain dulcimer maestro, has tackled everything from Radiohead to Bach and come away with a renewed appreciation for the humble dulcimer. He is an in-demand teacher and performer. Find him online at butchross.com.
Learn more about the Stephens Lutherie 3D-printed dulcimer at stephenslutherie.com.
HyVibe Dulcimer
- The HyVibe unit is a device built into a musical instrument that turns the instrument into a speaker. The HyVibe unit allows you to run effects, like chorus, delay, distortion etc. It does live looping, has a built in tuner and metronome, and even plays pre-recorded tracks, all without the need for additional amplification.
- Actuators mounted inside the instrument make the top vibrate, literally turning the instrument into a speaker. If you’ve ever had any exposure to the Tonewood amplifier, you know what the HyVibe does. The difference is that this is built into the instrument when it’s constructed.
- The built-in effects and live looping abilities are great for pedal-hungry players like Bing Futch, Cristian Huet and …ahem… myself. But you can also, via a phone app, load and play music into and through the instrument itself. This makes it a potentially great learning tool, as you can import tunes you’re trying to learn, the other half of a duet you’re working on, or even backing tracks.
- Again, I am not a paid endorsee of HyVibe. Nor is HyVibe Dulcimer maker Stephens Lutherie. TheHyVibe unit makes the instrument considerably heavier than a typical dulcimer and they are expensive. But it’s an idea that opens a lot of great opportunities for learning and advancing yourself on the instrument.
– Butch Ross
