2.224 2011 Sweet Woods 4 String 3 Course Hourglass £325 + original padded soft case £15
Printed label: “Sweet Woods Instruments/ by/ David Lynch/ Mountain & Hammered Dulcimers,/ Psaltries & Lap Harps/ “David Lynch” [sgnd] Dec 2011 [h/w]/ [tel. no./ email]”.
Plain design with wide-bouted body, bookmatched walnut back and unusual wormy butternut top. Flat, quite petite head with chrome Gotoh tuners. Bone nut (glued on end of fingerboard rather than slotted) and bone bridge, slotted for 3 or 4 courses. Attractive sweeping hole soundhole pattern, which Lynch calls his “Comet” design. Walnut fingerboard with 6+ and 13+ frets; simple copper pin string anchors (for loop- or ball-end strings). No straining bar on top of tail, so strings have cut into it.
Overall length 33¾”, upper bout 6⅛, lower bout 8⅛”, depth 2¼”, FBW 1½”, VSL 25¾” (short/medium scale), weight 2lb 6oz (1078g), strings now 11/11, 15, 25w. 6+ and 13+ frets.
Generally neat wood-working, intonation OK up to second octave. Short scale length may be attractive for those with smaller hands. Decent open sound with nice balance, just lacks a little sustain.
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1.125 1997 Sweet Woods 4 String 3 Course Teardrop #166 (?) £Sold
“Sweet Woods Instruments/ by David Lee Lynch/ Mountain and Hammered Dulcimers/ Psalteries and Lap Harps/ 708-748-6507/ 166 1997”.
Tidily-shaped teardrop with solid (but light-coloured) mahogany (?) body with wide-grained cedar top. Single piece mahogany fingerboard (not routed underneath) with hard maple nut and bridge, 6+ and 13+ frets and mushroom-headed pin string anchors. Closed pegbox with open-geared tuners, low “scroll”. Unusual Ewing-like trailing diamond soundholes, with smaller diamonds closer to the head (neither cut with huge finesse). Overall length 36″, upper bout n/a, lower bout 7½”, depth 2⅛”, FBW 1½”, VSL 27⅝” (medium scale), weight 2lb 0oz (937g), strings now 11/11, 14, 23w. 6+ and 13+ frets.
A pretty design with reasonable sustain and intonation, but not greatly characterful in tone. The finish is a little rough in places and the soundhole fretwork a little ragged. Presumably dates from when David was making instruments part-time. His reputation as a full-time luthier is now firmly established and his instruments rightly admired.
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2014 Sweet Woods 4 String 3 Course Teardrop £Sold
David (Harpmaker) Lynch has been making folk instruments for some time and became a full time luthier in 2003. He makes a wide variety of dulcimers, at all price levels, but is probably best known for his excellent student, laminated-wood, teardrop dulcimers.
Printed label: “Sweet Woods Instruments/ by/ David Lynch/ Mountain & Hammered Dulcimers,/ Psaltries & Lap Harps/ “David Lynch” [sgnd] 10-2014 [h/w]/ [tel. no./ email]”.
This is a simple but elegant teardrop design, with a solid walnut body – made of attractive rippled/curly walnut, bookmatched on the back, with plainer walnut on the sides. The top is solid cherry with a pleasant grain. Soundholes are Lynch’s “comet” pattern, an arc of different sized holes, carefully chamfered. Simple flat walnut head with quality Gotoh geared tuners. Single-piece walnut fingerboard with no markers, but additional frets at 1+, 6+, 8+ and 13+ (the 8+ appears to have been a later addition). Folkcraft-style hard plastic nut and bridge and copper pin string anchors for ball or loop strings.
Overall length 33¾”, upper bout n/a, lower bout 8¼”, depth 2⅜”, FBW 1½”, VSL 25¾” (short/medium scale), weight 1lb 5oz (582g). The strings are now 12/12, 15, 24w although it would well perfectly well with a lighter set. Additional 1+, 6+ 8+ and 13+ frets.
A decent handcrafted instrument at an affordable price. Plays well, with some volume, decent clarity of sound and a nice balance across treble and bass. Intonation begins to go off a little at the top of the second octave.
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