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Back in 1971, during my reaquaintance with traditional and
contemporary folk music, I became quite enamored with the Appalachian dulcimer. The music
of Jean Ritchie and Richard and Mimi Fariña brought me back to my own folk music roots,
and I decided to purchase a good, handmade dulcimer. (I was two years away from building
my own instruments.) I heard about Courtney Childs through a friend, and we made the trip from San José to Soquel to meet with Courtney and to try out a couple of his instruments. He had two recently finished dulcimers to show us. One was made from Brazilian rosewood and cost quite a bit more than I could afford. ($100 in those days was a lot.) The one I purchased (pictured on the left) is all goncalo alves, except for the tuners, which are ebony, and cost around $75. It has a sweet, quiet tone suitable for traditional folk music, especially those sad ballads like Matty Groves, and Barbara Ellen. Courtney's wife penned a label, which can be seen through the lower right sound hole, in a nice old English-style script. It reads, "Child Family, 1971." |