Well the old clock on the wall says....I'm old ! (a joke..sort of)  But that doesn't mean I am stopping building dulcimers.  I'll do that until can't hold sandpaper.   But it does mean I've decided to do things differently than take orders and have a waiting list.  I moved to a new place and had to set up a new shop from scratch and was not building for close to a year because of it.  I took it as an opportunity to start building dulcimers when I felt like it, spend time doing the many things I want to accomplish musically, like new recordings, maybe a book, performing more, and spending more time with my kids and grandkids.   Plus maybe a little design experimentation in the shop...always has been my first love in building.   Feel free to send me an email saying "Hey, if you finish one with no place to go, I'm interested".   I'll keep it and refer to it before I put one up for sale on Ebay or my web page or something.  Hope you understand, and Thanks !

————————————————————–

The Starsong – Mountain, or fretted dulcimers are in an era of evolution, with much experimentation in design and construction being the norm rather than the exception. Gallier Dulcimers are on the forefront of this innovation, not in just the way they look, but also in the fundamental physics of how they reproduce sound.

The birth of the Starsong design has been a 40 year incubation of experimentation, research, and testing, resulting in an instrument that literally stands alone in the dulcimer world. The challenge has been to create a design that maintains the silvery sweetness that enchants so many people upon hearing a mountain dulcimer, while at the same time improving fullness of tone, providing good sustain, increasing projection and eliminating unwanted nasal overtones. Constructed with the professional player in mind, The Starsong is extremely balanced across all the strings at all positions, with exacting intonation at even the highest frets on a very fast fretboard. The elegant shape was first and foremost developed to accomplish tonal benefits with its beauty being a coincidence. A fusion of time tested acoustic principles have been drawn from guitar and mandolin construction, as well as utilization of transfer tube technology from African drum construction. The unique trademark pin bridge is positioned over a specifically shaped and scalloped bracing system that is extremely efficient in how it pumps air while perpetuating sustain.

Below is a YouTube link that is an accurate representation of the sound of a Gallier Starsong. It was recorded outdoors with the camera positioned on the tailgate of my car, about 6 feet away. The sound track is straight from the built in microphone on the video camera with no other sound enhancement.

Gallier Starsong Video Link

Even with the high performance acoustic properties of a Gallier instrument, there are times when a electronic pickup system is necessary in a performance setting. The pickup system used in Gallier dulcimers are a result of real world concert testing over a period of nearly 30 years. The criteria for their selection was natural acoustic sound, strong signal, and excellent gain before feedback.   All instruments come with the pickup.

This is a professional’s instrument, built and designed by Gary Gallier to meet the demanding needs of the recording artist and performer.

Current pricing: $1700 plus shipping materials and freight charges. (usually $50 or less)