Alto Bowed Psaltery

Description

This Bowed Psaltery is the middle range instrument I make.  It has a deeper sound box than most Alto Bowed Psalteries that you may have seen.  This gives it a deep rich resonant sound with a nice sustain, but not quite as dark a resonance as the Baritone Bowed Psaltery.  The soundboard of this instrument is made of hand selected heart Yellow Poplar.  The back board is made of hand selected curly Maple.  The side rails, the bridge and the sound hole rosette are made of American Black Walnut.  The tuning pin block is made of curly Yellow Birch.  The instrument is in the shape of an isosceles triangle.  Along the right rail are the whole steps in the scale.  Between each of the hitch pins is a single note played by pulling or pushing the handcrafted bow across the strings.  Along the left rail is the chromatic scale which is the half steps in the scale or your flats and sharps like the black keys on a piano.  The lowest note is at the top of the triangle and the notes ascend as you go down the side rail of the instrument.  There are inlays along each side of the triangle spaced in intervals between the hitch pins.  The dark markers made of American Black Walnut indicate the C notes and the light markers made of quart sawn Sycamore indicates the G notes.  It is the same on the left rail but they mark the C# and the G# notes.  These are a handy reference to give you orientation as you play the instrument.  Bowed Psalteries are relatively easy instruments to learn how to play.  I believe that just about anyone who has a tune in their head and a desire in their heart can learn to make beautiful music with this instrument.  More advanced musicians learn to double bow playing both sides of the instrument playing not only the melody but the harmony as well.  The handcrafted bows are 15 ½” long and are made of curly Yellow Birch finished with hand rubbed Tung Oil and strung with genuine Mongolian horse hair.

What’s Included

Included in the price of this instrument is one bow, a T-handle tuning wrench, tuning diagram, an electronic tuner and a block of rosin for your bow and the cost of packaging the instrument for shipping: $510.00

I use UPS ground to ship my instruments and the cost will be applied based on the zone destination.  Also the tax rate for the state you live in will be added.

If you want a second bow it sells for $45.00 and if bought with the instrument no shipping cost will be added.

Details

Dimensions: 23.75” tall, 9” wide, 3” deep

Weight: 5 lbs

32 strings make 2.5 octaves

Lowest note: C-4

Highest note: G-6