I’m sort of attracted to this strange thing. Does anyone have any experience with this instrument? What’s the advantage/disadvantage of the playability/tone/care etc ?
Thanks,
I have one. It’s pretty easy to play, and people tend to like the sound. It has the ringing quality of a hammered dulcimer or bells, combined with the sound of a bowed instrument. The echoeyness gives it a sound like playing in a great church or hall.
Drawbacks include that, as a harplike instrument, there is quite a bit of tuning involved. Some feel that it’s difficult to play fast music on it, but it can handle reasonably fast tunes.
I used to have a page with instructions to make a bowed psaltery for under something like $30, but sadly, now I do not.
I heard that some players use two (or more) bows at the same time. I guess finger-picking or ‘hammering’ on the Psalteries is of course allowed to produce some sound effects?
Cranberry, looks like I’m going to spend more than $30 should I really start to build that thing…perhaps even exceed $100, with which I could buy one of those BD kits 
There are some psaltries on Songsea, but don’t know if they’re good for the money. Personally I don’t want to spend more than $100 as a starter instrument, but what are commercially available seem to cost at least $260^290. A bit expensive (at least, for me.)
See http://www.musikit.com/ for bowed psaltry kit - @ $140 the kit may be more than you want to spend to see if you like it. Never built a psaltry kit, but have done several others of their kits - they turn out quite well with reasonable care on your part
Most of the ones I’ve seen on eBay have gone for about five bazillion dollars.
I have played a bowed psaltery for years, with my band. A lot of worthy instruments are available in the $100-$150 range. Please check with either Anne or Patti at Song of the Sea, and let them know exactly what sound you are looking for. They are good people. A good idea would be to contact James Jones at:
He is a fine maker of hammer dulcimers, psalteries, and harps. Another maker in your price range is Jerry Read Smith of Song of the Wood. My daughter plays one of his instruments… I don’t have a URL or e-mail for him. A Google search will find him, quickly.
Should you decide to spend a little more money, look for a concave string bank and varying gauge strings…Richard Spencer:
of Omega Strings, builds some of the best sounding, most physically beautiful psalteries, extant.
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.
Best.
Byll
I have a bowed psaltery that I got about a year and a half ago, when I wanted to play SOMETHING but didn’t know what. I discovered the re****er soon after, and then whistle a couple of months later. I got hooked and never went back. So, even though it’s a very nice instrument, the psaltery has been gathering dust, so to speak.
I would be happy to sell it, if anyone is interested. I got it for $210 (though I would sell it for less, obviously) and it comes with bow, string, tuner, case, instruction book, etc. Here’s the one I have:
http://www.craggymtnmusic.com/bowed_psaltery.html
Again, it’s been played maybe five or six times, never left the house and has been stored in a cool closet in the case. Please PM me if interested.