In Hungary today it is called the "kiscimbalom", meaning a small cimbalom.

In the 1870's Jozsef Schunda's instrument factory in Budapest developed the modern enlarged cimbalom. Large cimbaloms stand on 4 legs, with a 4-octave chromatic range, and damper pedals like a piano. The early smaller cimbalom formed part of the earliest known folk band, that of Panna Czinka, who died in 1772. The large cimbalom is now a fundamental part of the folk band that has a cimbalom player, at least one or two violinists (one of them is called the prímás) and a base player. Other mainly wind instruments can also play a role in the traditional Hungarian folk enseble.

One of the most famous Hungarian folk ensembles in the world is the 100 member Gypsy folk ensemble (their official English name is Budapest Gypsy Orchestra) (in Hungarian it is the Száz tagú cigányzenekar) in Budapest.

Alex once recorded a great album with the orchestra's founding lead violin player (prime violin or Primás in Hungarian)  László Berki. In 2006 Alex remastered the original recording and now the unforgettable tunes can be heard from his CD titled "Hungarian Virtuoso". This piece was recorded live without any rehearsal where two giants, the great Alex Udvary cimbalom master plays the cimbalom and László Berki plays the lead violin. The Hungarian Virtuoso CD is available for your enjoyment from the Order Page.

In this page Alex Udvary would like to share with you a few tricks and tips on repairing broken cimbaloms. If you visit this website for the first time and do not know what  a cimbalom is, you can read a short description that tells you the origins, the types and the availability of cimbaloms. Alex is a definite expert on his field as he does this as a hobby besides pursuing his music career.

New cimbloms are quite difficult to come by as only a few places make them. Cimbalom (in other words hammered dulcimer) manufacturing used to be a thriving industry in the 19th and early 20th century. There were several well recognized manufacturers all over in Europe especially in Hungary. Among the most famous were the names of Bohak and Schunda whose pieces are still around hidden at certain places. Alex goes out for his 'treasure hunts' and finds these older pieces and repairs them by using his tricks that he learned from a felow cimbalom player a while ago when he was younger.

Therefore, this page will be more focused on repairing an old cimbalom rather than creating a brand new one from scratch. 

Please check back often as this page will grow with time as Alex Udvary will share more and more secrets of creating great sound out of a used, sometimes even a half century old instrument.

First he would like to highlight some of the problems that a novice cimbalom player can face when trying to play on an older instrument.

String will not stay in tune

Problem: You are tuning your cimbalom, or hammered dulcimer, and it just will not stay in tune.

Solution: Take the string off then take the tuning pin out. Stick a toothpick, preferably flat, into the hole, breaking it off at the top of the hole. Place the tuning pin back in the hole by pouncing it in with a hammer. Leave enough room to put the string back so when you tune it there will be enough room for the string. The string should wrap around the pin three times when tuned.

Problem: Crack in Cimbalom

Solution: You can stop this by placing some superglue over the crack.

The original version of the cimbalom, placed on a table and having neither legs nor damper pedal, once enjoyed popularity throughout Europe, from Austria to Britain and from Spain to Italy. In Hungary today it is call "kiscimbalom", meaning small cimbalom. In the 1870's Jozsef Schunda's instrument factory in Budapest developed the modern enlarged cimbalom.

Large cimbaloms stand on 4 legs, with a 4-octave chromatic range, and damper pedals like a piano. The early smaller cimbalom formed part of the earliest known folk band, that of Panna Czinka, who died in 1772. The large cimbalom is now a fundamental part of the folk band.

Listen to the sound of the cimbalom below!

• Godfather
  

• Dr Zhivago
  

• Hungarian Rhapsody
  

• Love Story
  

• Hava Nagila
  

Watch Alex, the Cimbalom Master, performing a great solo!

Did you like what you heard? You have a chance to purchase the Cimbalom Master's music right now!