About me:

Hi, I'm Bobby Ratliff. I live in the heart of rural Appalachia near a small town named Grundy Virginia.... just a few miles from the corner of where West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia meet up. I am Appalachia!
I'm also married to the most beautiful woman named Wanda who happens to have been raised on the mountain in Buchanan County right along the Virginia and West Virginia line. And she is the most wonderful singer and allows me to play the dulcimore while she sings! And she is Appalachia also!

I build folk instruments. Namely, a Traditional Appalachian folk instrument called the Dulcimore. The modern name is of course dulcimer, but those of us in the Traditional Community call it Dulcimore. Partly, because that's one of the names our ancestors called it, and, to separate our traditional versions from the modern versions that are quickly becoming something completely different.

I began building dulcimers in 2006. I tinkered with several styles of dulcimers over the years. In 2012 I decided to focus on dulcimores specifically designed for the old time noter/drone and fingerdance/drone players.

I'm not one of the die-hard traditionalists that believes everyone should play noter/drone. But the noter/drone style of play, and the old timey style dulcimores are quickly being replaced by the contemporary versions. I think the old timey style of play, and the old timey style dulcimores need to be preserved due to them being an important part of dulcimore history.

I like using woods for my instruments that come from the Appalachian region that I live.

Woods such as poplar, butternut, white cedar, red spruce, white pine, yellow pine, buckeye, black walnut, holly, locust, persimmon, osage, hickory, and hard maple are a few of my favorites and a few of the types of wood from my area.

I also build other folks instruments which I enjoy playing, and may have one for sale on occasion.

In 2020 I began researching a tip that I was related to old Kentucky dulcimore builders McKinley Craft, (my mother was a Craft) and I.D. Stamper. I researched McKinley Craft and did indeed find out we were distant kin.
McKinley Craft- Mckinley and I are related through Archelous Craft: 1749-1853. And also Ambrose Amburgey: 1792-1875 and John Hammond: 1685-1764. So we would have been kin even is he wasn't a Craft. And McKinley actually has the Hammond's coming down through two lines of his family as do I.

Fast forward to July 2021 and I began researching more of the old Kentucky dulcimore builders. And, I did in fact learn I was also related to I.D. Stamper! My favorite dulcimore player!
I.D. Stamper- We are related through Archelous Craft: 1749-1853, John Hammonds: 1685-1764 and Stephen James Caudill: 1683-1758.

But that wasn't all. I've also learned I'm kin to:

Will Singleton- We are related through William Jesse Cornett: 1761-1836

John D. Tignor- We are related through John Hammond: 1685-1764, Abner Everidge: 1745-1790, Ambrose Amburgy: 1792-1875, Josiah Tignor: 1773-1850.

Jethro Amburgy- We are related through John Hammond: 1685-1764, Ambrose Amburgey: 1792-1875.

Bristol Taylor- We are related through Ambrose Amburgey: 1792-1875.

Jean Richie- We are related through Abner Everidge: 1745-1790.

All these people lived in the same area of Kentucky that my Grandfather: Ollie Craft's family was from. I was and am thrilled to learn of the relation to them. Mainly because before 2006 I didn't know what a dulcimore was. And then to learn I have  relatives that made them! And some of them dulcimore royalty!

So what does that mean? Not much really, other than I have a tiny bit of dulcimore royalty blood running through my veins and it's rather a curiosity to me how I came to build dulcimores and later find my ancestors did also.

About my dulcimore making:

First, don't expect to get a cookie cutter dulcimore if you buy one from me.  No two are exactly alike. Obviously the wood will be different, but even if you order two of the same model at the same time, there will likely be slight differences in size and shape. Why? Because I make what the wood gives me. Sometimes I luck up and get a couple nearly identical, but most the time they're slight differences.

Appalachian crafts have been portrayed as rough products whittled out with an axe sometimes. My products are not primitive. But they would be considered traditional.

I usually purchase rough lumber and process all the panels and pieces for my instruments myself. I've even cut and processed a tree on occasion. But I rarely, if ever buy pre-made panels or pieces for my instruments unless I get a custom order and have no other option.

All my Traditional Dulcimores are built using native woods of the Appalachian region where I live.

My instruments, though they're not primitive, will be hand made and you may see the occasional tool mark, saw mark, chisel mark, file mark, or in the case of the fretboard, a mule track where I accidentally made while hammering the hand shaped staple frets in.

My instruments will not have a thick, lacquer or enamel finish. They will have only a few  coats of linseed oil and a couple  coats of a homemade beeswax finish over the boiled linseed oil. These type finishes bring out the beauty of the grain, while also keeping a natural, hand rubbed look to them.

Some of my dulcimores serve a purpose. Especially my Virginian, Dewdrop, Duckslammer Supreme, Bumblebee and Hogg Daddy. In the traditional past most dulcimores were a personal instrument. Played alone with maybe, or possibly, a lone singer singing along with them.  Quite honestly those old traditional dulcimores, (and most modern dulcimers for that matter), cannot be heard if played along with other instruments. Some can't be heard across the room. Just about any instrument, except another dulcimore or dulcimer will completely drown them out and sometimes I've even not been able to hear myself playing while playing with other instruments. In an outdoor setting..... forget about it......... even a singer will drown them out. So some folks have amplified modern dulcimers. And some people have amplified their traditional dulcimores. And some people simply Mic them up. However, some venues don't allow mics or any kind of amplification.
My solution....... design the dulcimore to be louder. I build my dulcimores with a mix of modern and traditional methods. I use kerfed linings to attach my sides to the top and back. This enables me to make my sides much thinner which reduces weight and allows the  sides to also be resonant, and not just a dead weight linking everything together.
So with that said, my dulcimores would more so be considered a modern rendition of the traditional dulcimore. I like to think they're exactly what the dulcimore forefathers would have built had they known how and what to do, and had the tools to do it, and most of all, if they had the need to build such a dulcimore.
So if you have a need to be heard better without being amplified......... check them out.