Dulcitar

The dulcitar is a variant of the Appalachian dulcimer, which retains the dulcimer's diatonic fret layout yet features a long neck that is intended to be played upright in the guitar style rather than flat across the lap. Luthier Homer Ledford coined the word dulcitar as a portmanteau of dulcimer and guitar, building his first model of the instrument around 1971.^[1] One of Ledford's dulcitars was accepted into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as displayed in a traveling exhibit on American craftsmanship.^[2]

The term "dulcitar" was trademarked by Ledford in 1976 (#73075051), and other luthiers have developed conceptually similar instruments under other names such as "strumstick"^[3] and "pickin' stick".^[4]

See also

• Resonator dulcimer
• Banjo dulcimer