(music cascade) - [Announcer] This week on "Expressions," we learn about one of the country's oldest instruments.

(dulcimer music) - [Bernd] I like building the traditional dulcimer.

I started building the dulcimers back in 1978.

I enjoy building it as much today as I did the first one I built.

- [Announcer] Plus, a dulcimer performance in the great outdoors, by Beth Fallon.

(dulcimer music) "Expressions," is made possible by the support of viewers like you.

Thank you.

- Hello and welcome to "Expressions."

I'm Adara Alston.

We have a great show planned as we look at a classic American instrument, the Appalachian mountain dulcimer.

Our guide will be Bernd Krause, a world renowned luthier, who has crafted more than 300 stringed instruments over the past 40 years, right here in the Southern Tier.

We caught up with Bernd at his Mountain Dulcimer Exhibition at the Robertson Museum and Science Center.

(happy music) - I build mountain dulcimers.

They're one of two original American instruments, the other one being the banjo.

The Appalachian mountain dulcimer originated in the Appalachian Mountains, Kentucky, Virginia.

The ancestors of it came over with the early settlers, but the instrument itself originated in the Appalachian Mountains, back in the early to mid 1800s.

My wife and I went to see Dolly Parton in concert back in 1977, and Dolly was playing a dulcimer along with all their other instruments.

My wife said, gee, that dulcimer looks pretty simple to play.

I would really like one.

So I went to the music stores in our area and nobody had any.

A couple people didn't even know what I was asking for.

So I went to the library since there was no internet back then.

I went to the library to get some information on the instrument and, and I came across a book on how to build them and where to get materials.

So I figured might as well build one if I can't find one.

Been doing it ever since.

(dulcimer music) Over the years I'm finding out more and more about the instrument and where it originated from.

And some of the original builders of the dulcimer who played the, the, the instrument in the early years and the type of music they played.

So I've gotten really interested into the history of it.

One of the first people whose credited actually with building the first teardrop shape Appalachian mountain dulcimer is J. Edward Thomas.

The early dulcimers were basically three string, very crude.

You have to think of where they were built.

They didn't have a lot of power tools.

They didn't have catalogs where they could buy all the parts and everything.

They basically had to cut the tree down resaw it themselves and do everything themselves.

So they were a crude instrument.

But when you look at that instrument back then, they weren't performing for big groups.

They weren't doing concerts.

They were really meant for their own enjoyment and their own little cabin sitting on a porch for their family.

Dulcimer generally is played laying flat on your lap.

And the traditional way of playing it is you had a little dowel they call a noter, just a piece of wood that you would slide along on the first string, which was the melody string and then played the other ones along with it.

And that was the main melody with the drones.

And that gave it that unique sound that people associate with the mountain dulcimer.

(dulcimer music) In 1980, I went to guitar building school in Vermont.

Left my wife in Rochester where we lived and took a leave of absence from my job.

And off I went to the wilds of Vermont, lived in yurts.

They only took eight students at a time and but it was seven days a week, every day.

all day in the shop, building a guitar.

And I came out of that with a really nice guitar, but more important, I came out with a lot of knowledge on building the guitar that I have since used to building dulcimers.

(soft country music) The instrument's not that big.

There's not much volume coming out of a dulcimer compared to a guitar.

So I've done everything I can to try to increase the volume of the instrument while still keeping it a manageable size, not make it too big.

So what I've done is I've hollowed out the fingerboard and the top under the fingerboard is also hollowed out which increases the air volume just that little bit but it's when you're talking about a small instrument it makes a big difference.

I've also put in an arch, slight arch on my back with bracing.

When you put it the arch on the back and you it on your lap, it helps keep your legs from dampening the sound.

So it helps project the sound more.

So those are some of the changes that I've made from the early dulcimers and from a lot of other builders that are out there.

I've actually gone on to build several replicas of historical instruments.

And now I do workshops.

I go to dulcimer festivals, the schools, Rotary clubs and other places, and do talks on the history of the dulcimer.

And I talk about the, the origins of the instrument, but I instead of having a lot of the historical instruments I have the exact replicas of some of these and I've gotten the dimensions and all the information on those from other historians who have come before me.

The most famous one, Ralph Lee Smith.

I learned an awful lot from him.

So I'm trying to do my part to continue to educate people on the history of the dulcimer.

I built a lot of different styles.

I like building the traditional dulcimer, traditional shape, but I also get a little carried away sometimes and, and and get out of the box and build some odd shape ones and trying something different.

But I still continue to build the traditional dulcimer.

After 42 plus years, I still am not tired of building the instrument.

I enjoy building it as much today as I did the first one I built.

- We will have more with Bernd Krause later in the program including a visit to the shop where he meticulously crafts each of his exceptional instruments.

Now it's time to hear one of these mountain dulcimers in action.

And for that, we turn to Beth Fallon.

She was first introduced to the dulcimer by Bernd at a display he had at the New York state fair in 2009.

And she has been playing ever since.

Beth's performance was recorded at the Art Farm gift shop in Chenango Bridge, which provided a scenic backdrop for these timeless songs.

(dulcimer music) (music continues) (music continues) (bee buzzes) (music continues) - Black walnut is a traditional wood that was used for dulcimers.

So I have a, a tree I cut down back in 1982.

I'm still using wood from that tree.

It was going to be used for firewood.

So I saved it from being firewood and still to this day, every time I build one out of that, that wood I think about that tree could have been all burned up all those years back, and here I'm still making instruments out of it.

I always get asked how long it takes to build a dulcimer.

It really depends on number one, the wood.

And if I don't count the time it took for me to cut down the tree, cut up the tree, seal, the ends and resawing the wood, planing it to get ready.

So with the wood already done, prepared, ready to build, from that point on to build a dulcimer for me is anywhere from 45, 50 hours on the low end to up over 120, 130 hours I spend on some.

These are all the parts that go into building a dulcimer.

So that would be for the back that gets joined together, The two halves.

And then I inlay on the back a decorative piece.

The top, mostly what I use is Sitka spruce which I get from Alaska.

The fingerboard gets glued on to the top and this is black walnut.

I hollow out the fingerboard, makes it light, helps amplify the sound.

I will cut the slots in the fingerboard and use special fret wire that gets set in.

This would be the peg box.

And that's a glue up of a number of pieces.

Tail block on the other end is where the strings go through.

When I bend the sides, the sides are bent on a hot pipe and I freehand bend them.

And then I bend the lining, which gets glued to the inside on the top and the bottom.

And that just doubles the gluing surface.

It adds strength to the instrument.

I've got most of the tools I need now.

I mean, there, there's always some little tool coming along that makes a certain job easier.

And it's, it's like eye candy.

You go to the tool catalogs or online.

Oh, that's a nice new tool, I think I could use that.

And there's some tools I purchased, they have one purpose.

You don't need all these.

This just makes the job easier.

Clamps you need.

So I have a lot of clamps.

My first dulcimer, you had to soak the sides according to what I read and you had to bend 'em around a form but they had to soak first in water.

Well, I didn't have anything large enough to soak the the sides in except my bathtub.

So I put the wood in the bathtub, a couple big pots of boiling water, poured it in there, let him sit for 10 minutes.

And I bent 'em around a little frame that I had built, simple frame.

I changed to using a torch and a piece of pipe, which worked great.

The problem came when I started doing demonstrations in schools.

Open flames, weren't allowed.

So I broke down and bought an electric side bender.

It's made for instrument builders.

So I take the piece of wood.

Once it's up to temperature, which is about 280 to 300 degrees and I just spray it with a little water bottle.

And I just freehand, I prove it over the pipe and I keep pressure on it on both sides until it starts to bend.

You need water and you need the heat.

You have the wood fibers that are locked in.

So water might soften it up.

As soon as it dries out, it'll go right back straight again.

And without the water, it won't bend, even with the heat.

It'll, it'll likely will break.

So what I'm doing with the water and the heat is actually stretching those fibers out and I'm molding them into a new shape.

And then by continuing the heat, holding the heat onto it, it's locking those fibers in place.

The important part on the dulcimer is the fret placement.

If those frets are not the correct position it doesn't make any difference what you do.

It's not gonna sound right.

If it doesn't sound good, it's a wall hanging.

So I, I take a lot of pride in making sure that my fret locations are in the proper location.

Well, I've been helping a lot of people online building of course now with Facebook and everything else I'm able to contact people.

I don't keep any secrets.

When I first started building dulcimers, it was like everything was a deep, dark secret.

Nobody would tell me anything, you know, about how to build them.

And I learned everything on my own, through trial and error.

I learned shortcuts and I learned other little techniques and I pass everything on to any builder who wants to build today.

- For more information about Bernd and his craft you can visit his Facebook page at Krause Instruments.

Don't forget to visit wskg.org/expressions for more music not seen in the program.

We leave you tonight with Bernd himself, performing at Art Farm, using the traditional noter technique.

(dulcimer music)