Songbird Phoebe

From Songbird Dulcimers:
 
"We believe the 16/15 Phoebe is the best sounding, most reliable, full size entry level hammered dulcimer on the market today. Built with a lovely Cherry veneer on a durable ply top. The Phoebe keeps in tune which beginners love, but also boasts a great musical range for all playing levels."
 
"We believe the 16/15 Phoebe is the best sounding, most reliable, full size entry level hammered dulcimer on the market today. And this Cherry Phoebe is our best Phoebe version yet!
Features
Built with a lovely cherry veneer on a durable ply top
Almost 100% American made, except the tuning pins
Maple bindings, bridges, and pin blocks
Cherry rails to match the top
Sound holes in the back
42″ long, 19″ wide
Weighs about 17 pounds
Comes with hammers and T-handle tuning wrench
Great beginner dulcimer
 
Stays in Tune Well for Beginners
Since the material is so solid, it makes the Phoebe stay in tune extremely well. An out-of-tune dulcimer will be unpleasant to play, which can deter beginners from breaking out their tuning wrench. They often see tuning as a daunting task, and may avoid playing as a result. Sometimes they will quit altogether.
 
Our theory is that a dulcimer that is in tune gets played more, and the player makes much faster progress. We have proven this theory over and over having introduced many thousands of people to the dulcimer with our instruments. This is why we strongly recommend the 16/15 Phoebe to most folks interested in the hammered dulcimer, especially those that aren’t already accomplished on other instruments.
 
With a Phoebe hammered dulcimer staying in tune longer, this will keep you motivated to keep progressing! We also encourage you to watch tuning videos, check out our tuning resources, ask questions, and focus on having fun! Tuning will become easier with time.
 
Great Musical Range for All Players
But the Phoebe isn’t just for beginners. It can do almost anything musically a dulcimer player might want to do. They are durable, stable, sound good, and are extremely reliable.
 
All of our instruments are designed to have a “middle of the road” sound. They have relatively low “sustain”, but with enough of that brightness to sound good like a hammered dulcimer should. They work equally well playing fast fiddle tunes, or slower hymns.
 
An instrument with high sustain will start to sound “muddy” when playing faster melodies; the notes will muddle together until it is hard to hear clearly. These dulcimers can sound wonderful when playing slow melodic songs. On the other hand, a very low sustain dulcimer can work just great for fast songs, but sound dead on slower ones. In this case, there’s too much space between the notes.
 
All our instruments are designed to work equally well in all situations. They are not a compromise, but we firmly believe we are making the best hammered dulcimers money can buy.
 
So unless you are planning on purchasing another dulcimer later (for instance a Chromatic dulcimer or one with more decorations), this is the model that we believe will last you into the next century. Your grandkids could be playing and enjoying it far into the future! It is that good."
 
The Phoebe Dulcimer can be purchased dulcimer only (includes hammers and tuning wrench) or as a package (dulcimer, case, stand, double face hammers, tuning wrench, and book; Mel Bay’s You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer with online video)
 
*If out of stock in the showroom you may still order and we will have one drop shipped directly to you from Songbird Dulcimers.