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Category Archives: News

Yes, Psaltery begins with a P…

November 26, 2007 – 9:27 pm

I remember telling my aunt about my website, and I wrote down the address on a sheet of paper and handed it to her:

www.phantasypsalteries.com

She gave me a puzzled expression. I said, “do you understand what I wrote?”

“It says, fantasy pee salteries? I don’t get it” she replied.

So, just to remind everyone: yes, psaltery begins with a P. I’m no etymologist, but Merriam-Webster online had this to say about the “psaltery:”

Etymology:

Middle English psalterie, from Anglo-French, from Latin psalterium, from Greek psalt?rion, from psallein to play on a stringed instrument

Now, I realize that most anyone who is reading this probably already knows this, as they have managed to find this website – with the correct spelling, but I just thought I’d include my humorous observation.

Additionally, I’m sure a lot of you psaltery players have encountered this type of dialogue:

You: I play a musical instrument called a bowed psaltery.

Them: A bowed what?

You: A psaltery.

Them: How do you spell it?

You: PEE…

Them: What!?

You: P – S – A – L – T – E – R – Y.

Them: Never heard of it.

I feel for you. :)

Here’s to the bowed saltery, salt tree, saltry, psaltry, psalter, and however else you can manage to misspell it! (Hint: the correct spelling can be seen by scrolling to the top of this page, bonking yourself over the head with a nerf bat, and then reading the title banner of this website.)

By Eric | Comments (0)

Happy Thanksgiving

November 21, 2007 – 6:13 pm

I’ve been sick for the better part of this past week, so I’ve not been able to make a whole lot of progress on building. I hope to be back in full swing right after Thanksgiving. But nonetheless…

Happy Thanksgiving :)

By Eric | Comments (1)

New Bow Size Available

November 19, 2007 – 6:35 pm

I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback on shorter bows, and I’ve decided to include 1/32 size violin bows as an available bow option. As a result of this, I am shifting everything to the shorter end of the spectrum. Now, the 1/16 size will be standard, with the 1/32 being the small size, and the 1/8 size, (which was previously the standard size), will now be the large size. I will still continue to carry 1/4 size bows as well, which I would now consider to be size XL.

The 1/32 bow is about 13 to 14 inches long, several inches shorter than the next size up, the 1/16 bow. For more info, see my updated Extras and Accessories page.

1/32 Size Violin Bow.jpg

The newest edition to the family of available violin bows: a 1/32 size bow

By Eric | Comments (0)

The Start of the Psaltery Blog!

October 23, 2007 – 2:03 pm

I’m proud to announce the beginning of a blog about bowed psalteries. I plan to use this area as an outlet to all of my ideas and thoughts on developing the bowed psaltery.

Basically, anything that might be too trivial or irrelevant for my official news and updates page will be listed here.

I hope to use this area to bounce around ideas and thoughts to incorporate into making a “perfect” bowed psaltery. (Whatever that may be to each person.)

To start things out, I just want to list a few things that I’ve be strongly considering to add to my options list:

  • Alternative saddle materials: bone, eco-friendly ivory, and carbon fiber
  • More string choices: silverplated-wound and nylon (the silver plated ones show a lot of potential in allowing a bowed psaltery to sound a full two octaves below a standard plain-steel string psaltery!)
  • Cosmetic upgrades: more note marker choices, color-matching tops to match back/sides, some interesting tiered rose designs and binding patterns

I’ve got a lot more ideas to implement, I just need the time, and an “experimental” psaltery to test them all out on. :)

By Eric | Comments (0)