Roosebeck Cutaway Mountain Dulcimer, 4-String Rosewood

Two Ways to Play, One Instrument

The cutaway narrows one side of the body, and that is what makes this dulcimer unusual. You can hold it in a guitar position as well as the traditional lap position. Played guitar-style, the fingering is inverted from the normal lap style, which is a little easier for guitar players to pick up. Lay it flat and it plays like any standard mountain dulcimer. Think of it as the missing link between a traditional Appalachian dulcimer and our stick-style Wildwood.

The hand-carved scroll peghead is a genuine conversation piece. It recalls centuries of European luthier tradition and gives this dulcimer a distinctive silhouette, finished with gold-colored, banjo-style 4:1 geared tuners.

Set Up for DAD, With Room to Personalize

We recommend traditional DAD tuning to make it easy to pick up and play, though many tunings will work. The 4-string setup gives you two melody strings, one middle, and one bass drone, and the 6½ and 13½ frets add the chromatic flexibility to play in multiple modes and handle accidental notes.

The string layout is flexible. You can remove the inside doubled melody string to return to the traditional 3-string setup, or shift the inside melody and middle strings over one notch each for equal spacing across all four. Extra nut notches let you find the pattern that suits your playing.

Technical Specifications

What's in the Box

Every Cutaway Mountain Dulcimer ships with everything you need to start playing.