Here’s a couple pictures of a custom psaltery that I just finished up. On it I used up the last of my quilted maple, which for some reason the camera always flatters. It’s funny, because usually I’m frustrated that the camera can’t capture the full beauty of the wood grain, but with quilted maple, it’s almost the opposite. The wood looks nice—that’s true—but it just doesn’t look as astounding in person as the pictures make it out to be. I just don’t want to inflate people’s expectations.

For the top of the psaltery, sitka spruce was used, and you can also see the matching custom wrench that was made too. (Please ignore the masking tape over the area where the metal ferrule is supposed to be—it is used to keep the finish off this area.) The wrench is made of quilted maple and purpleheart, just like the body of the psaltery.