JULIAN
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Dave Harding likes to tell people he is the “best luthier in southern Julian.” As far as he knows, he is the only luthier in all of Julian.
A luthier is a craftsman who makes stringed instruments. Harding qualifies. He makes dulcimers.
A dulcimer is a folk instrument related to the guitar. It is long and narrow, and typically is played by laying it across one's lap with a strap that goes under the legs.
“That's so it won't fall off,” Harding said.
The dulcimer is about 38 inches long and is strummed with a pick. It also is commonly known as an Appalachian dulcimer or mountain dulcimer.
Harding made his first dulcimer 25 years ago from a kit his wife purchased at the Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach.
“It was kind of easy for me to do,” he said. “I just like working with my hands. It was pretty simple, but it was a lot of work.”
He was soon building dulcimers for other people, often giving the handcrafted instruments as gifts. His dulcimers were sold at a specialty shop in Julian, but now he only makes them when commissioned by other dulcimer players.
“I sold five or six of them down there,” Harding said, adding that he stopped when the shop was sold. “One of them actually went to a tourist from Germany. He played in a band in Germany.”
Several varieties of wood can be used for dulcimers. Harding's choice is walnut. Rosewood also is good.
“The hardness of the wood makes the sound sound different,” he said. “Red cedar is a good wood for dulcimer tops. Spruce tops are good. Well-made guitars have spruce tops.”
Every time he builds a dulcimer, Harding said, it becomes a learning experience.
“They're all different,” he said. “I hand-rub the oil on the finished product.”
Harding adds a personal touch by carving the shape of small apples in the dulcimer tops for sound holes.
For the most part, Harding, 69, is self-taught on the dulcimer, but he is planning to start taking lessons.
“I took two lessons when I first built the dulcimer,” he said. “I got a few sheets of music and that's how I started.”
Harding also makes a “mandulele,” a stringed instrument of his own creation that is a cross between a mandolin, dulcimer and ukulele.
“It's tuned like a ukulele,” he said.
Harding acted in the Julian Triangle Club's annual melodrama in October, playing an old miner. During intermission, he gave his first public performance on one of his dulcimers.
“It was the first time I ever played in front of anybody,” he said. “It was kind of spooky.”
Harding and his wife, Nancy, have lived in Julian since 1997, moving from Cerritos, near Los Angeles, after they retired. They started coming to Julian to attend rendezvous gatherings and decided this was where they wanted to live.
“Julian downtown reminded me of the little town (where) I grew up in Indiana,” Harding said.
Ruth Lepper is a freelance writer who lives in Ramona.
