Tignor Traditional Replica #1 coming soon!

This will be my next build.  A John D. Tignor traditional replica.

One thing I know is, I know I don't make every dulcimore of the same model exactly alike. And I've heard a few of you other builders also state they same. We simply do not make cookie cutter dulcimores!

Well, John D. Tignor definitely did not either! But in his defense, I could only find 4 measurements of his true traditional pieces, and one measurement of his early traditional body dulcimores with the modern frets and wider fretboard. So it's possible he could have made a bunch of them pretty close to the same pattern, because he sorta did with his semi-modern pieces, but I think he was still trying to find his way on his early traditional staple fret models.
I got some actual measurements that Dulcimore Dan Cox and John Halberg provided me, and I got photograph measurements by blowing up photos to match a known measurement such as side height, fretboard width or VSL or all the above.
The numbers were all over the place! Far from being identical in measurement, and also how far the bouts were from the ends, etc.

John Halberg provided me with photos and measurements of John D. Tignor #1. And some of you might wonder why I did not simply just use those for my pattern???
Just as my work, or any other builder for that matter, your first build most likely does not define the entirety of your life's work. My dulcimore building is a far cry from my first one, and so are my designs.
The John D. Tignor #1 is basically a crude copy of a Jethro Amburgey. Eventually you can see differences he made as he began going away from the Thomas Design. Most notably the length and design on his end blocks where his early traditional staple fret models are concerned. And I can also tell that some of his design stuff was to basically simplify something, and some of the design is pure confusion to me wondering why the tarnation did he do that?

So what I've done is I've decided to use his later long endblock design rather than the design of his Amburgey style #1 dulcimore. And the measurements for the lower and upper bout widths, the width of the waist, and the distance of the bouts from the ends are all averages of the pieces I was able to get measurements of. So this is not a direct copy of any one John D. Tignor traditional dulcimore, but it's a close copy to all of them.

Check back to see what the finished dulcimore looks like and thanks for visiting!