The dulcigurdy was an early music instrument, of unknown original name, of the hurdy-gurdy family, but distinct in that the notes were changed by fingering the neck rather than pressing tangent keys. The instrument has several strings which are constantly bowed by a spinning wheel turned by a crank, producing unbroken musical notes.

The instrument is attested on Plate XXII of Praetorius

Praetorius

Praetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.In Germany of the 16th and 17th centuries it became a fashion that educated people named "Schulze" or "Schultheiß" or "Richter", which means "judge", put their name into the Latin language as "Praetorius",...

' 1619 treatise Syntagma Musicum.

The term dulcigurdy is a modern one, a portmanteau of Appalachian dulcimer

Appalachian dulcimer

The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...

and hurdy-gurdy. The instrument has also been mislabeled strohfiddel in modern times, since the caption at the bottom of Plate XXII uses this term (literally "straw fiddle"), but that term actually refers to the xylophone pictured next to the dulcigurdy. Praetorius does not appear to give a specific name for the instrument, instead lumping it in with the keyed hurdy-gurdy next to it as "Bauern-Lyren" or "peasant lyres."

Related instruments

• The kaisatsuko
  Kaisatsuko
  The kaisatsuko is an electric experimental musical instrument invented by Yuichi Onoue of Tokyo, Japan....
  
  is a modern experimental instrument in Japan very similar in concept to the dulcigurdy.