I’ve recently begun a new system where I have the frames for custom ordered psalteries already pre-built. You can see a few of the finished frames from the treasure trove in the picture above. (You can also spy out the completed edge sander that I was building in a previous post.)

It feels a bit odd to begin making a bowed psaltery and then abruptly stop once it is just beginning to take shape, but the reason why I’ve done this is to reduce the time it takes to build a custom psaltery. As a result, the expected time listed for a custom ordered instrument is now four to six weeks.