Burge Searing Dulcimers
Earl Burge Searing Jr (1941-2008) was born and lived in Florida until 1981, when his wife got a job in Atlanta and they moved to Stone Mountain, Georgia. Burge was a trained musician, but also an accomplished artist and furniture maker. About 1985, he was given a mountain dulcimer kit and very much enjoyed building it and learning to play the instrument. He soon built a better instrument for himself and thus began the business of building dulcimers and other unusual instruments for sale. He received positive feedback from several fairs he attended, so in 1986 opened his own shop, called Hand Crafted Dulcimers, in a barn at the back of Stone Mountain Village. The first 4 digits of the serial number indicate date and year, the last digits the number of instruments built to date. Some models have a K at the end to indicate they were made from kits (not necessarily his). He made a wide variety of instruments, including hammered dulcimers, harps, psalteries and banjos, the serial numbers suggesting a total build of over 1700 instruments in total. Burge suffered a stroke in 2002 which ended his woodworking, followed by terminal cancer in 2008 at the relatively early age of 67.
2.356 1992? Burge Searing #899 (?) 4 String 3 Course Hourglass £345 + NEW robust padded case £25
Printed label: ‘Handcrafted Dulcimers/ Burge Searing [sign.]/Mountain & Hammered Dulcimers/Books, Lessons, Tapes, Accessories/No. 0492899[h/w]/Burge Searing/[Tel No. Address]’.
A handsome instrument with a classic hourglass shape, rich solid cherry body and striking lacewood (faceted) top. Distinctive small heart soundholes with curved tails (like a Ewing design). Scroll and open pegbox are also cherry, fitted with open-geared tuners & cream buttons. Cherry fretboard without overlay, mother-of-pearl fret markers at 3, 7, 10 & 14 (double at octaves). Composite brown ‘nut’/zero fret and ditto white bridge. Neat tail design with mushroom-headed pins as string anchors and a hard maple block on top to take the strain of the strings. Overall length 36¾”, upper bout 5⅞”, lower bout 7½”, depth 1¾”, FBW 1½”, VSL 28⅜ (long scale), weight 2lbs 6oz (1086g), strings now 11/[11], 14, 23w. 6+ no 13+.
Very good condition with just a few small marks on the side to remind one of its age. Excellent construction. Quite bright sounding, but with good depth, accuracy and action, despite its longish scale length.
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1.74 1990 Burge Searing #594 4 string, 3/4 course Teardrop £Sold
Printed slip inside – “Handcrafted Dulcimers/Burge Searing [signature]/ Mountain and hammered dulcimers/Books, records, tapes, accessories/ No. 0890594 [h/w]/ Burge Searing [shop and home telephones]”.
Conventional teardrop shape but unusual combination of materials: laminated mahogany back, solid mahogany top and rich red-brown solid (?) mahogany sides (almost koa colour/grain). The scroll head and pegbox, together with the single piece fingerboard, are cherry. Neat block of hard maple incorporated on top of mahogany tail block to act as string strainer. Hard black plastic ‘nut’ and zero fret with white plastic bridge – both cut for 3 or 4 course layouts. 6+ but not 13+ fret. Markers at frets 3, 7, 10, 14 formed from small holes with black paint at the bottom. Open-geared tuners with white plastic buttons. Stumpy scroll with an open-backed pegbox. Weeping heart soundholes with tails pointing to rear.
Overall length 37¼”, upper bout n/a, lower bout 7⅜”, side depth 1¾”, FBW 1½”, VSL 28½ (medium/long scale), weight 2lbs 2oz (965g), strings now 10/10, 14, 23w. Original 6½ fret.
Excellent intonation, good action and decent tone, without great sustain. Usual bias towards treble but quite good volume. A decent intermediate style instrument.
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