"Woodland Wildlife"
"Woodland Wildlife" is a 5 octave (4+ Chromatic) Explorer model Hammered Dulcimer. This instrument features refreshed designs of Rosettes and Corner Scrolls originally designed by a past customer who graciously gave us permission to offer them to others.
Standard Features:
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Solid Quartersawn Sapele Soundboard
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Custom "Ruby" Stained Soundboard
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Tapered Soundboard
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Solid American Black Walnut End Rails
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Exceptionally Strong Structurally Engineered Lateral Bracing Custom Fit to this Instrument
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Woodland Wildlife Rosettes with inlaid Paua Abalone Rings
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Hand Rubbed Finish with 6 Coats of Nitrocellulose Lacquer and One Coat of Grain Filler
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Solid American Black Walnut Tapered and Scalloped Bridges
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Side Chromatic Notes Hitched to a Flat Bridge Anchored to the Soundboard - for superior tone and clarity
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Curly Maple & Paua Abalone Bridge Position Maker Inlays
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Laminated Curly Maple Edge Binding
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21 Different Steel, Phosphor Brass, & Brass Wound String Gauges
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Upper and Lower Handhold in Back
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Weighs just 19 lbs 4 oz.
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Excellent Structural Stability - Can potentially go for months between major tunings.
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Hammered Dulcimer #1111, Dated & Signed by Jerry Read Smith & Zachary Hamilton
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Signed and Sealed Document of Origin and Authenticity
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Individually “Voiced”
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Cable-Drive Linear-Bearing Damper Ready - Built with the internal structure required to support our premium damper system. See Pricing Here
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Internal JRS Stereo Pickup Available. See Pricing Here
This new instrument includes a Tuning and String Gauge Chart, Star Tip “T” Handle Tuning Wrench, Battery Powered Digital Chromatic Tuner, Hammers, and String Polishing Cake.
The sealed-bid auction on the "Woodland Wildlife" Explorer is now closed. Thank you for your interest in Song of the Wood.
If you have any questions about this or any other JRS Hammered Dulcimers, please do not hesitate to ask us! You may contact Jerry at 828-301-1622, or by email at jerry@songofthewood.com.
Woodland Wildlife
Corner Scroll Designs
Many years ago, a customer from New England with a background in graphic design drew up these corner scrolls and rosettes for her own dulcimer.
Several years after Jerry completed her dulcimer, she graciously gave him permission to replicate the design for other customers. Previously called "Animal Filigree" corner scrolls, we recently renamed them "Woodland Wildlife", appreciating the alliterative allusion to Song of the Wood and the animals that visit Jerry's property here.
Newly Available Woodland Wildlife Rosettes
The original files for these rosettes had been lost, and Zachary recently replicated them from some old draft cut rosettes that had been sitting around for several years. He scanned them and had to manually trace and refine every shape to get a clean result. He also added some subtle elements in the inner rosettes better distinguish the overlapping branches and leaves.
Asymmetrical Body Design with
2/22/22/12 Bridge Configuration
Covering 5 octaves of range, the JRS Extended Chromatic Navigator has over 4 octaves that are fully chromatic, with every half-step of the octave available. We use a 1-inch course spacing, keeping every note within reach even with 22 courses on each of the Treble & Bass Bridges. The 2-course Chromatic Bridge at the top left and the two highest courses on the Treble & Bass provide the missing chromatic notes in the high end of the scale, while the 12-course Super Bass Bridge provides some of the missing low chromatic notes and opens another diatonic octave of deeper bass range.
The Asymmetrical Body Design allows the Treble Bridge to be vertical and the Bass Bridge to reside much nearer to the Treble so you don't have to reach as far across the "valley".
Right-Side Super Bass Bridge
Placing the Super Bass Bridge on the far right continues the natural progression of the hammered dulcimer from the highest notes in the upper left to the deepest notes in the lower right. This makes the most sense and feels the most natural to us, so it is the standard layout we provide.
Tapered Pinblocks with Double & Triple Spline Finger Joints
Finger Joints are more difficult to construct than the Butt Joints traditionally incorporated in Hammered Dulcimer construction, but we feel increased strength of the joint is worth the effort in light of the vast stresses the instrument is under. Those forces only increase the more strings an instrument has, and our Explorer possesses 101 strings, resulting in well over 3500 lbs of tension pulling the Pinblocks toward each other.
All of our Hammered Dulcimers feature tapered Pinblocks. This singular aspect of Song of the Wood Dulcimers results in a more massive Bass Chamber for warmer and more complex low tones.
Due to the tapering of the Pinblock and Tonal Chamber, the Top Rail has Double Spline Finger Joints while the Bottom Rail utilizes Triple Spline Joints.
Bi-Directionally Pre-Arched Soundboard
We pre-arch our dulcimer soundboards in two directions to create a slightly domed top. This increases the strength of the soundboard and helps it to resist the dipping over time that is a not uncommon issue among older hammer dulcimers. This is an innovation Jerry implemented early in his building career and remains a feature of our instruments decades later.
Structurally Engineered Soundboard Struts & Custom Fit Lateral Bracing
We radically overhauled our Dulcimers' internal structure in 2022. The result is a far stronger structure supporting the soundboard with only a minimal increase in weight. As an added bonus, we think that our Dulcimers sound better than ever before.
The Lateral Braces in this dulcimer are precisely cut to fit the height of its frame. The new design we are using creates substantially stiffer braces that resist the pressure of the string tension trying to bow the body of the instrument.
Solid Tulip Poplar Back
As part of our premium solid wood construction we use Tulip Poplar to form the back of our Hammered Dulcimers, rather than using a plywood back. Tulip Poplar is often used to build drawers because of it's stability so it won't swell and stick. The same dimensional stability applies to the backs of our instruments.