Peter Sean Cooney Hourglass Dulcimer #229 1979

This is a very beautiful hourglass dulcimer made by Peter Sean Cooney.

Cooney was a highly regarded "boutique" dulcimer luthier based out of Indiana. Over his active building career, he handcrafted roughly 500 unique instruments, making his dulcimers rare, collectible, and highly sought after.  Cooney was known for treating each build individually, rather than mass-producing a standard design. His instruments frequently utilized high-quality tonewoods, such as solid cherry bodies paired with specialized spruce tops. 

This dulcimer is 34 1/2” long and 2” deep. The lower bout is 7”; the upper 5 1/4”. VSL 28” and FBW 1 1/2”. The top is spruce. The sides and book-matched back are cherry. The edges of the top, bottom and sides are nicely rounded. The fretboard is Appalachian spruce. 16 frets in all, including a 6+. There are mother of pearl fret markers between frets 3&4, 7&8, 11&12 and 14&15. The fret marker between 3&4 is an intricately-carved crescent moon. There are four Arts & Crafts style Lilly-of-the-Valley sound holes. Open scroll headstock with 4 nickel friction tuning machines with opalescent buttons. Four black, round-headed string anchors. New D’Addario string. Comes with its original brown chipboard case with plush yellow lining, which has seen better days, but is still functional.

The builder‘s business card, which is loose inside the body, reads: "Associated Luthiers / Peter Sean Cooney / Builder / #229 / 1979”. (You need to jiggle the dulcimer until the card comes into view under a sound hole.)

Based on Reverb’s condition definitions, it is in “Excellent” condition. There is some strum wear on the lower end of the fretboard, a light scratch on the top next to the 4th and 5th frets, and a 1” scrape on the back near the head. There is also what appears to be some dark wood bonding material between the headstock and the back of the instrument. (Please see photos.)

The tone is bright and clear. The action is excellent.