About Us

David Lindsey first discovered the hammered dulcimer in June of 1978 while vacationing at Silver Dollar City, Missouri. Later that summer he bought a dulcimer kit, put it together, and taught himself to play. Right away David realized he was looking for a different sound than the kit, so in November of that year he built his first dulcimer from scratch.

Meanwhile, David’s wife Annette grew interested in the mountain dulcimer and she learned to play. Together the couple helped found the Sweet Song String Band, a group that is still active today. While playing in those early days, audience members began to ask where they could purchase a hammered dulcimer and join the growing community of players for themselves. Once they learned that David had built his own dulcimer, he was soon asked to make dulcimers for them, and David’s Dulcimers was born.

1978 was a big year for David for he also heard his first dulcimer recording by Bill Spence. David was fascinated by the tone quality and dynamics of Spences’ dulcimer and knew this was the sound he wanted.

A couple of years later David and Bill met at the Cranberry Dulcimer Festival in Binghamton NY and discussed dulcimers. David was inspired by this meeting, and went home to develop The Grand. After more than 25 years of building experience, Bill requested that David build a smaller, light weight dulcimer with the same dynamics and tone qualities as the Grand. Thus the Bill Spence Edition was born.

David's Dulcimers are renowned for their low sustain and high dynamics. The floating soundboard as well as the internal bracing and external bridging is what makes the difference. No other dulcimer offers this quality.