Soprano Bowed Psaltery
The smallest of the group, this handmade Soprano Bowed Psaltery features a Sycamore, Curly Maple, and American Black Walnut construction with a bright sound and a manageable size and weight for easy handheld playing.
Description
This Soprano Bowed Psaltery is the smallest I make. With its shallow and short sound box it has a brighter sound resonance than the Baritone and Alto Bowed Psalteries and has less sustain. It is a great size and weight to hold in your hands to play. It is ideal for people with a shorter arm span.
The soundboard of this instrument is made of hand selected heart quarter sawn Sycamore. The back board is made of hand selected curly Maple. The side rails, the bridge and the sound hole inlay 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. They are dark markers made of American Black Walnut. The ¼” diameter markers indicate the G notes and the 3/8” diameter markers indicate the C 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. This is the ideal size and weight to introduce young musicians to the joy of making music.
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: $334.00
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: 20” tall, 7.6” wide, 2” deep
Weight: 3.5 lbs
25 strings make two full octaves
Lowest note: G-4
Highest note: G-6