Things With Strings

Musical Instruments I Have Known

• Autoharp

  • Autoharp Music Tips and Folk Radio

    • Mark Gunn provides a link to an internet radio channel devoted to... you guessed it!

  • Bryan Bowers

    • The best-known autoharp player on the concert circuit today.

  • Oscar Schmidt Musical Instruments

    • The company that gave the name to the "chorded zither."

  • The Cyberpluckers

    • "Bringing the joys of the autoharp to the nether reaches of the Internet."

• Banjo

  • Thumbnail History of the Banjo

    • Bill Reese's history of a uniquely American instrument.

  • Banjo in the Hollow

    • "Dedicated to preserving and promoting bluegrass and old-time music..."

  • The Deering Banjo Company

    • A leading manufacturer of banjos in the USA.

  • 5-String Banjo

    • A site with a collection of mp3 files with samples of common traditional banjo tunes.

• Dulcimer

  • Anthony Huvard

    • An introduction to this instrument, with a brief history of its origins, and examples of the author's craftmanship.

  • A History of the Mountain Dulcimer

    • Lucy Long provides a more detailed history.

  • Jean Ritchie

    • A dulcimer player from the mountains of Kentucky, whose beautiful voice renders ballads from her childhood.

  • McSpadden Dulcimers

    • A dulcimer maker provides a sample of the instrument's melody.

• Guitar

  • Chet Atkins

    • The guitar was my "first love," and the man known as "Mister Guitar" was my greatest early influence.

  • C F Martin & Company

    • Since 1833, this company from Nazareth PA has kept the business in the family. Featuring a guide to assembling the instrument.

  • Guitar

    • A page from Nicolas Slonimsky's "Lectionary of Music," with links to history, music files, and more.

  • Acoustic Guitar

    • My favorite guitar magazine.

• Mandolin

  • Mandolin Cafe

    • The now-defunct "Mandolin Quarterly" has left us this library of links and sound files.

  • Building A Mandolin

    • Because somebody has to. Steve Tollway describes his first.

  • William Smith (Bill) Monroe

    • Most Americans associate the mandolin with "The Father of Bluegrass Music," unless they've seen...

  • Captain Corelli's Mandolin

    • A wartime love story about a soldier who plays a mandolin.