Hi Melanie...and all,

Cloud Nine is very bright and may be one of the most limited on sustain. Makes for a tremendous instrument for the reels/jigs, but not quite as good as some on ballads. Most people find them quite nice all around. Changing hammer material will increase or decrease the bright/sustain qualities of any dulcimer as will changing the downbearing.

RE: Black Lacquer - Its whatever you get used to and can adjust to. There are a lot more around now for whatever reason and I admit they have an appeal..built 4 myself. Most are black aneline dye and then finished, but I have seen true black lacquer also. It always seems such a waste of beautiful wood to me. Since I left the end frames, bridges, and rails in natural woods (although the pinblocks were also black) they weren't so stark. Two of them were very attractive....the one using cocobolo and the other maple. Cocobolo is just plain beautiful and the light maple had an excellent "flame" pattern, very pronounced. In any case, I personally prefer the look of natural finish instruments. I think very light colored soundboards such as spruce are easier to play with a touch of toner to darken them. I also prefer a satiny semi-gloss finish which highlights the beauty of the wood and is also easy to "see" stringwise.

Melanie, if you are looking for a "lifetime companion" kind of HD, I'd really advise you take your time and look at/play a lot of them. You're looking for a "friend" so start haunting shops wherever you travel and check out some of the small, but serious, builders. You may find that one of them suits you to a "T."

AND NOW A QUESTION FOR ANY OF YOU ---------

Most dulcimers are very similar in appearance. Some have little differences that are either funtional or aesthetic, such as treble and bass tuning pins on opposite sides or whatnot, but they are all similar in many ways. How would you react to a slightly radical design, say almost like an oval with a short and long side (severely round the trapezoid's corners) and some other things too. I mention this because I have a mock up made of one for measurement purposes and pattern making. It has exactly the same "guts" and dimensions as my current design (I'm happy with the sound) that I developed and use....but it DOES look different. The sound would be the same. It has a kind of modern "Euro" look that is different and requires a bit more building time, but I think I'd like to see something that would stand out a bit, all other things being equal. Let me know if you have an opinion before I build a dozen of these suckers that won't sell!!!

Spaw