Phoebe Hammered Dulcimer

(2 customer reviews)

$649.00

We believe the 16/15 Phoebe is the best sounding, most reliable, full size entry level hammered dulcimer on the market today. Built with a lovely Cherry veneer on a durable ply top. The Phoebe keeps in tune which beginners love, but also boasts a great musical range for all playing levels.

Demonstrating Our New 16/15 Cherry Phoebe Hammered Dulcimer│Songbird Dulcimers

Laminated Bridges

Dampers (installed)

Onboard Electric Pickups (installed)

Or get the Complete Package!

Complete package includes: dulcimer, case, stand, double face hammers, tuning wrench, and book; Mel Bay’s You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer with online video Learn more

Description

We believe the 16/15 Phoebe is the best sounding, most reliable, full size entry level hammered dulcimer on the market today. And this Cherry Phoebe is our best Phoebe version yet!

Features

  • Built with a lovely cherry veneer on a durable ply top
  • Almost 100% American made, except the tuning pins
  • Maple bindings, bridges, and pin blocks
  • Cherry rails to match the top
  • Sound holes in the back
  • 42″ long, 19″ wide
  • Weighs about 17 pounds
  • Comes with hammers and T-handle tuning wrench
  • Great beginner dulcimer

Stays in Tune Well for Beginners

Since the material is so solid, it makes the Phoebe stay in tune extremely well. An out-of-tune dulcimer will be unpleasant to play, which can deter beginners from breaking out their tuning wrench. They often see tuning as a daunting task, and may avoid playing as a result. Sometimes they will quit altogether.

Our theory is that a dulcimer that is in tune gets played more, and the player makes much faster progress. We have proven this theory over and over having introduced many thousands of people to the dulcimer with our instruments. This is why we strongly recommend the 16/15 Phoebe to most folks interested in the hammered dulcimer, especially those that aren’t already accomplished on other instruments.

With a Phoebe hammered dulcimer staying in tune longer, this will keep you motivated to keep progressing! We also encourage you to watch tuning videos, check out our tuning resources, ask questions, and focus on having fun! Tuning will become easier with time.

Great Musical Range for All Players

But the Phoebe isn’t just for beginners. It can do almost anything musically a dulcimer player might want to do. They are durable, stable, sound good, and are extremely reliable.

All of our instruments are designed to have a “middle of the road” sound. They have relatively low “sustain”, but with enough of that brightness to sound good like a hammered dulcimer should. They work equally well playing fast fiddle tunes, or slower hymns.

An instrument with high sustain will start to sound “muddy” when playing faster melodies; the notes will muddle together until it is hard to hear clearly. These dulcimers can sound wonderful when playing slow melodic songs. On the other hand, a very low sustain dulcimer can work just great for fast songs, but sound dead on slower ones. In this case, there’s too much space between the notes.

All our instruments are designed to work equally well in all situations. They are not a compromise, but we firmly believe we are making the best hammered dulcimers money can buy.

So unless you are planning on purchasing another dulcimer later (for instance a Chromatic dulcimer or one with more decorations), this is the model that we believe will last you into the next century. Your grandkids could be playing and enjoying it far into the future! It is that good.

Additional information

Weight 30 lbs
Dimensions 44 × 24 × 6 in

Availability: We are a small Mom and Pop enterprise, and can’t have everything we make in stock all the time.  We should have all of the accessories and small items all of the time.  We also try to keep natural Phoebe and Chickadee dulcimers around all of the time.  But other finishes or higher end models will be hit or miss.  We build dulcimers 6 of each model at a time to get the economy of scale, so if we have them, we have them, if not, it could be a month or two depending on where we are in our cycle.  If you have a deadline, please contact us for availability of what you are thinking of getting before placing the order.

Shipping Info:  A shipping calculator with all the functionality would cost us big money, so we opted to use the basic and reliable Paypal checkout system and include a reasonable average shipping cost on the price of each item.  If you order multiple items to ship in the same package, we will refund the extra via Paypal.

International Shipping: Our standard shipping amount is for shipments to the lower 48 United States. We can ship internationally, but not to everywhere. Our packages must go via US Postal Service to be as economical as possible. It depends on the rules of the receiving country what size package they will accept. In general most European countries are OK. Also Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. If you are wondering, you can check yourself on the Post Office website. Our most common package is 44 inches long, 24 inches wide, and 6 inches thick for a total length plus girth of 104 inches. They weigh 33 pounds. This should be enough info to get you a quote. You can always contact us for a quote, too.

Payment Info: We have been using Paypal for years, and believe it is the safest online way to pay.  You don’t need to have an account with them to use our Paypal checkout system, and best of all, we never need to know your credit card or bank details. Of course, we still like checks best since they don’t cost us money to process!  If you want to send us one in the mail, we would greatly appreciate it! Just don’t use the shopping cart, and contact us directly with your order, and we’ll work out the total and details.  You can also call us directly with a credit card number for payment.

Dealers: When possible, it is always best to go see and try out an instrument before buying. You can also get the input of a knowledgeable sales person. A good dealer will have in stock several different models of hammered dulcimer. Some will even have instruments from different makers, and it is very educational to see and hear the difference.

We have many trusted dealers all over the country that we have been working with for many years. We consider these folks close friends, and would not hesitate to recommend them to you. Contact us and we can put you in touch with someone near you.

2 reviews for Phoebe Hammered Dulcimer

  1. daniel pokorski

    I got the Phoebe so my wife could play one of my favorite tunes (Music Box Dancer). Her 14/15 could not get to the higher notes. I ordered it on a Friday and had it the following Thursday. Chris and Melanie made this so easy!
    Now, about the Phoebe; my wife is not a professional performer, by any stretch. But, you wouldn’t know it listening to her play. This dulcimer produces a very rich and deep tone. Well constructed and beautiful, it is also a fantastic piece of art, in itself. Very satisfied. Not only does ‘Music Box Dancer’ sound great, all the tunes she played on the original instrument now sound like she is playing in a studio or concert. Great instrument.

  2. Alissa Frey

    My dad bought a Phoebe Songbird Dulcimer at a benefit Auction about 16 years ago. It has been well used and still sounds beautiful and has held up well. Excellent craftsmanship! I am planning to purchase new strings, and am excited to see how it will sound.

    • Songbird Dulcimers

      Lovely! So happy to hear the instrument has been well used and passed to a loving home. Were you able to get new strings, and are you still enjoying it? Thank you so much for your review. 🙂 All the best!

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