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I'd never given a thought to the dulcimer until last August, when I was at Augusta for another course, Jim  Horton's class in wood engraving (when am I going to take up something SIMPLE???)
There, I immediately met R.P. Hale, who was our assistant wood engraving instructor. Very immediately, because I wandered in with broken glasses, bleary-eyed, and frantic about how I was going to do any engraving without
my glasses. Within minutes, R.P. had pulled out a piece of harpsichord wire, and wired the stripped eyeglass frame back together. Over the course of the week, I heard him play the hammer'd dulcimer daily, including
once in concert, in which he got a standing ovation. Every morning, he started the day by playing on the porch of Hallehurst for a tradition known as "waltzing across breakfast."
Before the week was over, I was in love with the dulcimer. R.P. is rather lovable himself, but he is taken! R.P. as it turns out, makes hammer'd dulcimers and harpsichords, and I placed an order for a 15/16 dulcimer on
the spot. Then I waited as patiently as I could. R.P. provided updates on his progress, which was sandwiched between his many other projects, performing, teaching music, completing the building of a beautiful
harpsichord, and so on. As the dulcimer construction advanced, I learned that the base would be recycled barnwood, and the top, Guatemalan mahogany. 
R.P. Hall inaugurated the dulcimer before he sent it,
playing for the Morning Chapel service at St. Paul's School. This is an Episcopalian boarding school in Concord, NH, for which R.P. is an adjunct faculty member. Here's R.P.'s account of the event:
“I did the prelude and postlude, along with the hymn for the day, one of those prescribed for Lent. The prelude was one of my Chinese selections, Spring Comes to Xing'jing
River (appropriate for the season) and the postlude was an Aztec/Spanish marcha, Aquin Tlamamaz'e in Tonaz in Cauhpochtehuitliztli, "Who shall take it upon himself to light
the way?" The bishop, who is also the Rector of the  School, blessed it right before the postlude.
So, the dulcimer, built by an Aztec-Mexican maker in New England, played Aztec Chinese and Episcopalian music at St. Paul's, and is hereby sent to its new owner in Minnesota.” . .
Enjoy--
R.P.
My dulcimer arrived by UPS in early April, well cushioned in five layers of bubble wrap. I barely had time to get it out of the bicycle box in which it was shipped, and learn how to tune it before it was time to leave for Spring Dulcimer Week. So, when I arrived in
Elkins for classes, I was really a complete novice.
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