About Stoney End Harps
Stoney End harps are made in the USA. They are all strikingly good looking and have a really lively and bright response, which is maintained all the way to the top end.

Solid Walnut or Cherry wood is used for the structural frame and pinblock. The plywood side and back panels are inserted into dado cuts in the solid corners and the base. This makes a durable and strong, yet very lightweight harp body.

Stoney End harps are often praised for offering the best combination of a great sound and affordable price. They are very reliably made, and always look and sound fantastic.

Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer Information
Descended from Northern European zithers the dulcimer was used mostly in old time American music. It has from 3 to 6 strings usually arranged in 3 courses and traditionally was strummed (with a very light pick). The lower two courses are used as drones, the top course for the melody. Only the top course was fretted and this was usually done with a stick called a noter. The noter gives a characteristic sound as it slides over the fret. It is a modal instrument hence the irregular fretting (see separate note on modes). There are two more modern styles of playing. One is to fret the bottom strings as well as the melody course, to play chords (eg. Joni Mitchell's LP "Blue"), the other is to change the instrument to 4 courses and fingerpick.

Some dulcimers have extra frets. These are refered to as half frets, and allow greater flexibility, a six and a half fret is the most common addition, it is effectively a seventh fret, but calling it so would put out the usual notation for the instrument which is done by fret numbers.