ABOUT BLUE LION

Since 1977, Blue Lion has been offering acoustic guitars and mountain dulcimers of the highest quality. We pride ourselves on the level of craftsmanship and aesthetic style for which our instruments are known, and continually strive to perfect our craft.

We began building instruments in the mid-1970's; when Robert gave Janita a mountain dulcimer she fell in love with the instrument and she began using it on stage with their band. At that time, it was very difficult to find a high quality mountain dulcimer (at least on the West Coast) that met performance standards. We were doing some instrument repair and inlay work for a local music shop, and it was a natural step to go from there to trying our hands at building. Janita and Robert built their first mountain dulcimer from scratch using walnut from Janita's grandad's Illinois farm.

From that point, Blue Lion became our business. We set up shop in the old garage and spent the first year or so building and modifying the prototype for what is now our Style II model. With great support from friends and family we were able to survive those first few years; it's not easy convincing folks that Californians can build a decent Appalachian folk instrument!

We have been blessed with great success and acceptance in the dulcimer community; while we initially expected to build guitars for a living, with an occasional dulcimer here and there, just the opposite has happened. We have built approximately 100 guitars since 1977 and over 4000 dulcimers.

Our instruments are not manufactured on an assembly line but are individually crafted by the two of us to the highest standards possible. We combine the best elements of traditional tools and equipment with modern high precision machinery to produce instruments of unsurpassed quality and excellence. We moved into our current shop building in l985 which allowed us to improve our production output. We build approximately150 dulcimers a year in production runs of 25 to 40 instruments per run.

It is our policy and intention to do everything possible to build you the instrument of your dreams. Please feel free to talk to us about custom options and modifications and we'll do our best to make that dream come true.

— Robert and Janita Baker