i will answer you all (eventually....it's a busy mother's day)...

i'll just say that yes, i know tam kearney....been to his house many a time....tam doesn't make dulcimers anymore. most of the dulcimer players i know in the area play kearney dulcimers. he only made traditional setup, as far as i know, and i believe he preferred to make them without the 6 1/2, which i couldn't live without. i may be wrong on that one....i rarely play anyone else's dulcimer because the strings play in a different language.

one interesting aspect of the equidistant four-string is that the fingerboard is wider than the traditional. i am able to move my strings around to create the trad. setup, but it's not easy to play that way, with the huge width between the strings, so i leave it as the equidisant all of the time.

tam has a wonderful STUFFED toy dulcimer in his living room, made for him by the renowned guitar maker, grit laskin! it even has stuffed tuning pegs!

~black walnut