Cardboard Musical Intruments?

**ashevilleangler** · #1 07-26-2011, 10:19 AM

Last Saturday after the Asheville Tourists baseball game at McCormick field concluded I took a stroll into downtown Asheville to take in the usual festive summer street entertainment. After enjoying the music of several buskers and the extremely energetic performance of the Street Stomp girls I headed down to Pack Square to catch the last bit of the "Shindig on the Green" folk music performances.

What has any of this got to do with paper or card models? Well not so much really until..........., a man named Jon Cooley was introduced as a maker of cardboard mountain dulcimers. The instrument he was playing was a bright blue boxy looking thing. And it played quite nicely, at least to my ear anyway.

Until now I had never heard of such a thing, much less heard one played. So I gotta ask....., Has anyone here ever built one of these things?? How about other cardboard instruments?

Here's a photo of a cardboard dulcimer kit offered for sale by Simplicity. I'm thinking of ordering a Music Makers brand hourglass shaped kit as shown in the second photo below. I'm not sure that I will build it with the supplied cardboard though. I'd like to try it with some Luan door skin plywood. Has anyone here heard good or bad things about Music Makers?

Anyway that's enough rambling for now.

Curt

**cdavenport** · #2 07-26-2011, 01:42 PM

I have no clue, but based on your info, I think I'll try one myself. Thanks, Curt!

**SCEtoAUX** · #3 07-26-2011, 02:20 PM

That is pretty neat. Here is a place that sell the kit and has a downloadable pdf of the assembly instructions. $34.95 doesn't seem too bad considering what is in the kit.

Musicmakers: Cardboard Dulcimer KIT

**Miles Linnabery** · #4 07-26-2011, 03:34 PM

Dear List Folks:
I know paper is king, however there is a musical kit manufacturer called Hughes dulcemer out of Denver colorado who makes kits from traditonal wood for not to much more than the paper ones note if you can glue paper you can work in wood.
MILES

**Leif Ohlsson** · #5 07-26-2011, 04:37 PM

All I can say is that the Musicmakers website was a treat, and that I now - for the first time in my life - learned that there is such a thing as a dulcimer, what it looks like, how it works, and how one could build a beautiful one out of a kit.

Curt, I guess you've already downloaded this instruction for a wood dulcimer (no longer produced). It looks a lot like the paper one you've ordered, and it ought to be helpful for your conversion.

Cardboard Musical Intruments?-dulcimer-kits.jpg

Be sure to have a look also at these instructions for the current, even more beautiful mountain dulcimers. Those were good for an hour of drooling.

Leif

PS. Their banjos are very interesting!

**codex34** · #6 07-26-2011, 05:31 PM

There was a card "saxophone?" a few years back, can't find it now, tried to build one but the reed is so damn tricky.
There are a few flutes out there made from card rolls.

**ashevilleangler** · #7 07-26-2011, 10:13 PM

Wow! This is actually more interest than I thought this topic would generate. Thanks to Doug for including the link to the Music Maker cardboard kit. That's something I probably should have done since it is in fact the kit that I will order. Miles, I looked for more info on the Hughes dulcimers but I think that he may no longer be in business. Lief, you found stuff on the MM site that I missed. Thanks, as the instructions for building the wood sound box kits will be very helpful. After looking at those models I'm starting to lean towards a teardrop shaped instrument. Also I tend to forget that instruments like dulcimers and mandolins are very much tied to Appalachian mountain music and may not be well known in Europe. Since I grew up in Kentucky I've heard that music all my life.

Finally, a cardboard sax?? Really???? I can't imagine how it would hold up to the moisture......., okay spit actually that it would be subjected to if anyone actually tried to play it.

Curt