One of the psalteries that I’m currently working on is with a wood that is the heaviest that I’ve used to date: a tropical rosewood called Cocobolo.

It has probably one of the brightest and glassiest tap-tones of any wood I’ve come across, and it’s also one of my personal favorites in terms of beauty. See for yourself from this picture I took with a hypothetical back being set on the frame. (And just think: that is without any sort of finish – the color will get much darker and more vibrant with time.)

After some strategic boring and hollowing, etc. the frame weighed in at only 1 pound, 12.2 ounces. (That is for the frame only, excluding any soundboard or back.) And while that is heavier most other frames I’ve used in a long time, it is much lighter than many other psalteries I’ve seen available, and it should prove to be quite responsive and resonant.

And along a similar vein, I’ve compiled a chart of material densities on my sister-site “A Psimple Psaltery” for those curious to see how much all of the woods and materials used in making a bowed psaltery actually weigh. Material Density Chart