Most instrument builders won't even look at plywood but my cigar box ukulele is plywood and I think sounds better than many solid uke's and these are hard times, anyway I like the fact that dulcimer was made from a 1950's? glass fronted cabinet that came from my mother in laws front room, it gives it a some personal history and makes it more folksy! But the top has been niggling me because when I tapped my knuckle the first top I made sounded just dead, no resonant bong,no tone at all, same if I rapped my nails on it, but I noticed the piece from the shelf is different all together! Very loud! So I abandoned the old one and drilled out all the sound holes again, this time using a hole saw to no tear outs as it when though the top of the grain though I forgot to rest it on another piece of wood so I got some nasty rips underneath! Doh!
So obviously even plywood is not all made equal.
Note in the picture I now have the timber for my ebony fingerboard and mahogany staff (that the bit that goes underneath) also note the double bottomed bottom! It means that when you lay it on your lap you aren't stopping the bottom from vibrating, my version will have six vent slots along the sides which is different from the traditional method of gluing lots of small blocks between the two bottoms my own stamp on the design- after all it's an English Handcross hill dulcimer rather than the more common Appalachian Mountain variety!
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