Folk & Acoustic Musical Instrument Specialists


Try the instruments for yourself! We keep a huge and varied stock of new and secondhand instruments.

HAMMERED DULCIMER

   
Definition: Large trapezoidal zither with many strings in pairs, 3s or 4s stretched over long (sometimes individually moveable) bridges. Played with small wooden or cane hammers. Played in British Isles and North America. Closely related to the Hungarian cymbalom, German/Swiss hackbrett, Iraqi and Iranian santir (probably the origin of all of these), Indian santoor, Korean yangum and Chinese yang qin.

Read the full Autoharps, Zithers & Dulcimers FAQ Page.

MANDOLINS

The mandolin is part of a family of instruments just like the violin family. The mandolin is the most common and is tuned like the fiddle, GDAE, its big brother, the mandola, is tuned like the viola, CGDA, and the octave mandola which has no violin equivalent is tuned GDAE. There are also the rarer mandocello (CGDA) and mandobas...read more