Instrument: dulcimer, three-string

This three-string dulcimer was made by Kentucky luthier Jethro Amburgey. As is typical of early hand-built Appalachian dulcimers, this instrument is only partially fretted, the frets not reaching across the entire fret board. This instrument was commissioned by John Jacob Niles, who was at the John C. Campbell Folk School as an assistant to photographer Doris Ulmann while in Brasstown, North Carolina in 1933 and part of 1934. Niles returned to the Folk School as music director in 1935. A noted collector and performer of folksong, Niles played this and three other dulcimers while he was in Brasstown. According to Jethro Amburgey's son, Morris Amburgey, Niles helped to design this instrument by collaborating on its dimensions. Amburgey learned to build dulcimers from Uncle Ed Thomas of the Hindman Settlement School in Hindman, Ky. The dulcimer is signed by Amburgey, dated Feb. 8, 1932 and numbered #31