I've fooled around on the piano dulcimer a bit. I have the advantage of working at Dusty Strings, so there's usually one near at hand if I feel like playing. I'm a piano player, and after 14 years of being intimtely involved with the building of hammered dulcimers, talking about hammered dulcimers, demonstrating hammered dulcimers, and hearing just about every player who ever showed up in Seattle, I never learned to play the damn thing. Then we made the piano dulcimer. The tuning scheme immediately made sense to me, unlike the traditional pattern. As far as ergonomics and speed of playing, I don't think it's any harder or easier to play than the others, just different. I like the fact that it is a fully chromatic instrument in a relatively small package. If you need the chromatic notes, it's a LOT easier than the traditionaly tuned diatonic instuments that have had the chromatic notes added here and there. The Elderly link given above only shows the PD30, the piano dulcimer with a laminated top. It sounds fine, bright and well-balanced, but if you like more depth and richness, there is also the PD40, which has a solid mohagany top and back and an extra octave of range, on the same size frame. You can also get dampers on the PD40, which add some very cool possibilites.

John Peekstok