Will Lawrence dulcimer
David Kettlewell described it as “an unusually large instrument, in the key of D, made by Will Lawrence (his last?) c. 1930”.
The instrument was owned by researcher and musician Russell Wortley (1912-1980), and is still in Cambridgeshire, now owned by Carole Pegg.
According to Will’s son Stan, his father made many dulcimers, often using old furniture, with bridges made from ash and pegs made from the staples used for sheep hurdles. Will’s daughter, Jean Toler (born Dorothy May Lawrence, 1915), recalled that he used to make the bridges out of wooden cotton reels, used split cane for the beaters and bought the wire from a music shop called Mullars in Sidney Street in Cambridge.
Dimensions of the Will Lawrence dulcimer
Click on a thumbnail, then click again to see a full-size picture.
The photos of the instrument were taken in 2011, when the instrument was in quite a poor state, and had lost the stars in the soundholes on the right hand side.
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