"Like everyone, the first time I saw a hammer dulcimer I was enchanted. A young boy held little wooden mallets that danced all over a beautifully crafted box with strings. The music that came out was a delicate tinkling sound, fragile yet powerful at the same time, and it quickly set my toes tapping."

- Karen Ashbrook

This was just how I "fell in Love" with the instrument! In 1984, I was at a Renaissance Fair at the Ringling & Barnum Art Museum grounds in Sarasota, Florida and heard the group Gyspy Guerilla Band. I heard the enchanting melody that flowed from the instrument they used and it was love at first hearing! I was hooked. Unfortunately, I was a poor college student at that time and could not afford such an instrument.

One special birthday many years later, my husband Ges gave me my first hammer Dulcimer. Knowing I had wanted one for years but not knowing anything about them himself, he went to our local music store. Lo and behold, one was in stock and on clearance -- a 12/11 string Folkcraft with a light blond sound board and tiny hearts cut into the sound board. I was in heaven, and I have been eternally grateful to my husband since for fostering my love of the hammer dulcimer.