I guess I missed that article, Spaw- would love to read it if you find the source. And, T- of course, it's obvious to me that ALL those Scandinavian/German/French/Dutch instruments were ancestors of our dulcimer. The "educated guess" on that is that our Appalachian pioneers, having no other instruments (or very, very few), went to their woodsheds and "invented" something to make music on, remembering epinettes, scheitholts, langlics- whatever easy-playing things their minds remembered, and the Appalachian or Mountain Dulcimer was the result. That's why it's now considered an American instrument. I tried to make that point clear in my little book, and Ralph Lee Smith does also in his more scholarly work. I do have a copy somewhere, and also have a copy of the ms Ralph sent to me to read- it'll turn up sooner or later in the chaos here, when I have TIME to look for it. Jean