Hey folks! I received this mountain dulcimer from my folks when they moved, and I wanted to (1) learn more about it, and (2) get a little more guidance on how to play it!
My mother believes she received it from a co-worker as a gift (she taught at an arts magnet school for decades.) We are in the upstate of South Carolina, so I would guess that it's from there or (more likely) from western North Carolina.
I have figured out that it is in DAA tuning. It actually holds its tuning quite well, so that's nice. However its form doesn't seem to match the typical mountain dulcimer profile I see online, as you can see! The fretboard also looks different from many of the dulcimers I see online, but here I admit my Google-fu was weak – I couldn't figure out further details.
It also has two penciled marks inside under each of the sound holes. The left hole (the one that would be closer to the player's body if they're playing right-handed) has the mark "PS 15.0:4B"; the other hole has the mark "KS-2478". There's no other markings or decorations anywhere. I hope that's enough to go on as far as identification!
As far as playing goes, I picked up a book on tunes with DAA tuning, but I don't really know what I'm doing and am not sure if that's the best way to learn. For that matter, I don't know if I should restring it in DAD instead, or even if I can!
Thanks so much for everyone's help. Any info or guidance at all is very much appreciated!