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> But the biggest problem is that you have to tune every note, and every note has two strings. So it's quite a job. I've heard that pretty much every piano tuner eventually goes nuts, because it's such a maddening job to tune that many strings in one sitting.

Tuning can be a stumbling block. You mention two strings for every note, but this dulcimer has only four strings. Three of them look about the same size and the other one is much thicker. They are not spaced evenly. I read somewhere on the net that a hammered dulcimer is not to be confused with an Appalachian dulcimer. I know mine is the latter, but how is a hammered dulcimer different? Does it have little wooden hammers like a piano? Or is it just pounded into shape with a hammer?
Howard