Free Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions by Ralph Lee Smith Page A

the spaces, between the frets, beginning with D. The open string was obviously C.
    At the 1991 Appalachian Dulcimer Workshop at Appalachian State University, Randolph Case, a workshop attendee, told me that one had come into his possession, as well. As figure 3.8 shows, it is a beauty. It has seven strings, five of which pass over 15 frets. There is no stenciling on the inside of the lid, but the stenciling around the sound holes is finely executed. As with Koerber’s instrument, notes of the musical scale beginning with D are stenciled along the fretboard. The superb craftsmanship includes a well-shaped scheitholt head. The tuning pins are unlike any others that I have seen.
    Two More Beckwiths
    Shortly after the appearance of my column, Lee Vaccaro of Rochester, New York, wrote to me and said: “I received my DPN last midweek, and I was tickled to see your article on the dulcimer-in-a-box, or scheitholts. I’ve had one around for a year or so, that I bought at a flea market.” Vaccaro’s instrument, it turns out, like Koerber’s, was made by E. Beckwith. Here is her description:
Mine is labeled in gold, as you described Don Koerber’s, ‘E. Beckwith Maker’, along the front panel of the right triangle, with lovely gold stenciling of red flowers in a pot, and lyres with wings inside the lid, and a wheat stalk down one sound hole, and a stylized daisy and leaves across the other.
    Early in 1996, Ray and Lorraine Steiner of Webster, New York, called to tell me that they too had acquired a Beckwith. Subsequently they sent me photos. In the accompanying letter, they said: “We haven’t been able to find much information about it, except that it was purchased originally in New York State by the dealer. The original owners had no information about it.” The town of Webster is not far from Rochester, where Vaccaro lives. This suggests the possibility that E. Beckwith made his instruments in New York State, perhaps in Rochester.
    News from South Carolina
    In February 1994, Mary Kick of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, called me in a state of great excitement, and she followed up her call with a letter that read in part:
Rella King and I play in a dulcimer group in this area. Also, we receive the Dulcimer Players News and read every word you write. A week and a half ago, I loaned her my notebook with all the class handouts and my notes from my week at the Dulcimer Workshop at Appalachian State. The next day, Rella’s neighbor told her of a strange instrument at a local shop. Rella called me, and we met on Monday to see the unusual instrument. As I told you, I think we were both a little disappointed to find the instrument quite so primitive, but we were thrilled at the same time.
    After my phone conversation with Mary, she and Rella teamed together to buy the instrument. They subsequently donated it to the Appalachian Cultural Museum at Appalachian State University, where it is proudly displayed.
    The sound holes of their purchase closely resemble those of the Beck-with instruments. The top of the “triangle” is made of tiger maple. A notable difference between this instrument and the other four above is the simple decoration, which is confined to handsome stripes painted on the top.
    The name “Bennett” is stenciled on the bottom of the box, and the initials TLB are scratched in script in the center of the bottom. There is no way to know whether this person was the maker or an owner.
    The triangular-shaped instrument body of the scheitholts-in-boxes thus far discovered indicates that they have a common prototype. At one time, the basic design was known to more than one maker. The quality of the workmanship of all the instruments signifies that they were made in small shops and were intended for commercial sale. Perhaps the original idea, and some of the instruments, emanated from the shop of a skilled German-American zither maker as a relatively simple,