# What's Joni playing in this clip?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-joni-playing-in-this-clip/646469>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 8, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-joni-playing-in-this-clip/646469 "2013-01-08T12:13:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-joni-playing-in-this-clip/646469/1 "2013-01-08T12:13:49Z")

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[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-q4foLKDlcE/hqdefault.jpg "Joni Mitchell - California (BBC)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4foLKDlcE)

Obviously a sort of lap guitar thing, but what’s its proper name?

thanks

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**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-joni-playing-in-this-clip/646469/2 "2013-01-08T12:18:56Z")

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I believe it’s an Appalachian dulcimer. [Appalachian dulcimer - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_dulcimer)

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-joni-playing-in-this-clip/646469/3 "2013-01-08T12:39:49Z")

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Thanks, funnily enough just as I read your answer I got to the point in [this version of the same video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5XToHSITH4), at about 16.21, where Joni explains that it is indeed a dulcimer and who built it for her.