There is a lot of information available about Hammer Dulcimers, on the WWW and in books. The best information is I think from David Kettlewell. He has a book written quite some time ago called ‘... All the Tunes that Ever there Were... ` an introduction to the Dulcimer in the British Isles. Published by Front Hall Enterprises Inc. Voorheesville. New York 1982. The Book comes with a tape that has, at times very poor sound quality, but nonetheless is very informative.

It does contain a design plan for a Dulcimer which is sorely lacking in information. There are plenty of these plans around. I have made some of them and seen the results of other home constructions. They often produce an instrument that looks and sounds home-made, but is non-the less a Dulcimer. If you have very little money but plenty of time and access to a selection of tools it is possible to make a Dulcimer for about £80 - £100.

David Kettlewell also wrote the Dulcimer entry in the Grove Music Encyclopaedia. Avaliable from Public Libraries. This entry contains a great deal more information about dulcimers than in the All the Tunes... book.