Beard Dulcimers
Richard Beard is a woodwork teacher by day and a musician and luthier by night (and at weekends!). He has been making mandolins, guitars and dulcimers professionally for over 10 years and has built a fine reputation for quality craftsmanship, good design and fine woods. He grew up in Los Angeles and New York City, but has moved back to the land of his ancestors in Western North Carolina. He has built over 200 dulcimers.
2.154 Beard Dulcimer, 4 String 3 Course Hourglass £475 + £25 original padded case
Lacquered-on label (or stamp?) with black surround, trade mark man-in-the moon half moon and stars top left: “[All h/w] #172/ Richard/ Beard / Rutherfordton/ NC”. From serial number likely to be mid to late 2016.
A handsome instrument with a high gloss nitro-cellulose finish. Body is fiddleback-figured maple with a fine-grained spruce top. F-holes and N Carolina-style scroll, but walnut pegbox curves down much more deeply than the traditional style. Open-geared Grover tuners with black buttons. Mahogany fingerboard with nice ebony overlay; 6+ and 13+ frets with mother of pearl markers at frets 3, 7, 10, 14. Old-style high walnut tail with strings passing through to slot for ball-end strings only. Shallow strum hollow continues to tail and bridge is therefore very tall – made of bone (?) and angled for compensation. Nut also appears to be bone. Overall length 37¾”, upper bout 5¾”, lower bout 8”, FBW 1⅝”, VSL 28¼” (long scale), weight 2lb 09oz (1178g). 6+ and 13+ frets. Original (?) strings 11/11, 16, 24w phosphor bronze.
A neat and attractive design with fine workmanship. A good open, resonant sound with precise notes. Maple gives it a slightly shimmering tone with decent, but not excessive, volume. Plays well into the second octave, though intonation not perfect at very top.
