On 2010-11-07 21:55:39 -0500, Bill said:

I haven't seen many of those in my musical circles. The closest things
are "mountain dulcimers", which may be a little easier to build because
of the absence of the bow. I thought one of those might be my first
instrument. Technically, it would be my second instrument as I already
built my wife a washtub bass. When I was at youtube listening to bowed
psaltery, I noticed a number of examples were duets between bowed
psaltery and mountain dulcimer, so there ya go. I've read a few books
on instrument building but I'm going to try my hand at building
something with a drawer before I try that! I'm still wet behind the
ears. ; )

If you stop at Tamarack on the West Virginia Turnpike, you'll find a
couple who are Artists-in-Residence -- they build psaltries, both bowed
and plucked. You'll also find some goregeous furniture built by Probst
Furniture Makers (http://www.probstfurniture.com). And if you've a mind
to spend some more money, there's a near-boundless selection of the
turners' art.