Music me,nArtist Furman Thorntonmakes'sweet sounds'By Joe EdwardsStaff Writer

here !'urman Thornton is concerned, there is noirony in the fact that the world "dulcimer"means "sweet sound." The contractor-turned-craftsman/artist has spent the last 15 years creat-ing by hand about 500 of the violin-shaped string

When he started out, Thornton was unaware that what hesaw being strummed on television was a dulcimer. He justknew it was unique and simple and produced intriguing melo,dies.

So, with no idea where to get one, the Hartwell contractortook matters into his own hands. He located an old music book,some walnut wood and strings and began to craft a rough like-ness of what he had seen.

Nearly 15 years and 5ffi dulcimers later, you might sayThornton has taken his music making to new heights. The northGeorgia mountains, to be exact.

Thornton, 57, spends his weekdays building dulcimers fromscratch in Hartwell before he sells them at his store in Dillardonweekends.

"It was really a hobby until two years ago when I openedthe store in Rabun County," Thornton said. "A lot of peoplefrom Florida and up north who are on vacation stop in and saywhat a good idea it is."

Although he sells items like Celtic harps, Native Americanflutes, tapes and compact discs at the store, Thornton is knownprimarily for his handerafted mountain and hammered dulci-mers.

From sorting lumber planks to cutting, sanding and careful-Iy glueing them together, he makes the instruments entirely byhand. The finished product ranges in price from $265 to $450.

"These are the pieces that give me the fingerboard," Thorn-ton said recently, pointing to cedar planks stacked on a shelf inhis shop. He also uses cherry, chinaberry and spruce woods tofashion his duleimers.

Some of the materials he finds inand around Hart County while oth- Furman Thornton is aers are provided through contacts in true mountain artist,North Carolina and other states. - Carefully creating

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