The earliest known diatonic fretted zither known to survive is in a communal museum in The Hague, Netherlands.[1] This scheitholt or German zither, as it is called, was made in 1608, figure 1 and figure 2. The Appalachian dulcimer most likely was derived from similar instruments brought to Virginia by German immigrants.

German, Scotch-Irish, and English first settled in Pennsylvania, and then from 1720-1770 many migrated west.[2] Blocked by the Appalachian Mountains, they traveled the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road south west through Maryland and Virginia parallel to the Appalachian Mountains then west from about Roanoke, VA on the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap to Kentucky and Tennessee, figure 3. The Scotch-Irish and English brought their fiddles, the Germans their scheitholts, figure 4.

The scheitholts had several favorable properties. They were easy to play; the frets are placed so that you get a do, re, me, fa, so ,la, ti, do scale with no sharps and flats to worry about, and no musical knowledge necessary. Secondly, they were easy to construct with simple tools. The disadvantage was that they were narrow and lacked the volume needed to play dance music. Modifications were eventually made such as a raised hollow fretboard and a larger body. In fact, some early dulcimers look as if a scheitholt was mounted on a larger box to give the instrument a louder sound, figure 5. With the raised fretboard and a wider stable body it became easier to use a plectrum or switch to strum the strings back and forth to create loud rhythmic music that would compete with a fiddle when playing dance music.

It seems likely that these improvements were made in Virginia, as many examples of similar instruments now called the Appalachian dulcimer are found along the migration and settlement routes through Virginia, figure 6, figure 7.

I have tried to recreate an early Virginia style Appalachian dulcimer, figure 8. Its attributes are:

1. Large thick body with a single bout (not hourglass shape)
2. Round soundholes
3. Raised hollow fretboard with round soundhole, no strum hollow, wire staple shaped frets, figure 9.
4. Sloping headpiece with steel tuning pins.
5. Loud bright sound, suitable for playing dance tunes.

[1] The Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments, Bulletin Vol. V-1975-1/2
[2] Ralph Lee Smith, The Story of the Dulcimer, 1986
[3] L. Allen Smith, A catalog of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers, 1983

Figure 3 and Figure 5 courtesy of Ralph Lee Smith.