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This is the brown stained version of the Songbird 16/15 Phoebe hammered dulcimer as a complete package with everything you need to get started playing hammered dulcimer. It includes the dulcimer, which we build ourselves; good case; the stand of your choice, either the sit down stand shown which you sit behind in a chair, or ladies or gents height stand up stands; hammers, tuning wrench, IMT 500 clip on chromatic electronic tuner; Mel Bay's You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer book with CD and DVD; tuning diagram, guarantee, and instructions for setting the main bridge if necessary. We are Songbird Hammered Dulcimers, Inc., and have been building hammered dulcimers for many years. We have built something over 8,000 of these, and it is our full time occupation. The Phoebe model shown here is the best, most durable, best playing, best sounding, and most stable entry level hammered dulcimer on the market. By best sounding I mean they are good enough in fact to be used in high level competitions where they sound just great compared to the more expensive instrument others are playing. A player with a Phoebe dulcimer has got to the finals at least twice in the National Championship Contest held every Sept in Winfield, KS. By the most stable I mean they just stay in tune. As long as their environment is stable, they will just stay in tune. And they will take a lot more environmental harshness than any other dulcimer on the market. The whole dulcimer will only go flat or sharp with the change of seasons. The rest of the time you just tweak a string or two, and most of the time not even that. Tuning is not difficult. The Chromatic tuner shows you what the note is that you plucked when tuning it, and how flat or sharp it is. You then just turn the tuning wrench on the tuning pin until the tuner shows that that string is in tune, then move to the next string.The 16/15 designation means this is what is considered a full size dulcimer in modern terms. It means there are 16 courses of strings on the treble bridge (the left one which is more in the center of the instrument), and 15 courses of strings on the bass bridge (the right bridge). Each course has 2 strings tuned to the same note. You play on both sides of the treble bridge, but only on the left side of the bass bridge. This is designed for the standard modern American tuning, and most easily plays in the keys of C, G, D, and A. One can also play in F, and E. It is also very easy to play in the minor keys of Em, Am, Dm, and Bm. This is a very easy instrument to get started with because of the tuning arrangement. We show folks how it works, and within the first 2 minutes they are playing a couple tunes, and understanding it. You doesn't really need any musical background to start the hammered dulcimer, anyone can understand it. You don't have to know how to read music, it is actually hard to do anyway since you need to be watching what your hands are doing, not a sheet of music.The top and back of the dulcimer are made of a high tech birch laminate called Baltic Birch. It is made in Russia. This is what makes the dulcimer so stable and durable. The top and back are very strong, and don't shrink and swell with changes in humidity and temperature. The bridges are walnut, and the pinblocks that hold all those tuning and hitch pins are hard maple. The whole dulcimer has been stained with our proprietary walnut color stain, and is very pretty. A strong, durable, great looking, great sounding dulcimer. Your grandkids will be enjoying it decades from now.The case is heavy weight nylon with high density padding, lined, and large accessory pocket. The stands are durable and light, easy to transport. They fold up into a narrow bundle that you lay between the handles of the dulcimer case, and carry both at the same time. The total package with the case and stand will weigh about 20 lbs. The electronic tuner is one of the best things that has come along in that market. It is my all time favorite, and we are very happy to be able to include it with the dulcimers. It clips in a slot which you can't see in the pictures at the top of the dulcimer, and senses the vibrations of the soundboard directly, not through a microphone. So it is hearing only the instrument it is clipped to, not everything else in the room. It is fully chromatic, and will tune anything it can be clipped to, from an upright bass (clip it to the bridge) to a fiddle (clip it to the peg head), to an unamplified electric guitar. Great tuner, I use mine to tune everything. The book is the most complete hammered dulcimer method available, and is designed for one to be able to teach themselves to play the instrument without anybody else around that plays. The DVD that comes with it is very good, it is like having the teacher right there with you. Our written guarantee is 2 years, but reality is that we stand behind our instruments. If you ever have a problem with it, contact us, and we will do our best to solve it. We ship FedEx. Your dulcimer will come in its case in a sturdy box, with all the accessories. The dulcimer will be in tune or pretty close when it arrives. Free shipping to anywhere in the lower 48. If you live in Iowa there will be 7% sales tax. We can ship internationally. Contact us for a shipping quotePlease, no PayPal. We aren't set up to get the money out of the account. We take cashier's checks, or money orders. We also really like personal checks, but will hold the dulcimer until the check has cleared. You can also call us with your credit card number. That is the fastest. Call us if you have any questions. 563-288-4122 Thurs.- Sat. 10-6 CST, or 563-260-7977 any time.Thanks so much for Looking!Chris and Melanie Foss
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