In the picture to the left you’ll see what a bowed psaltery looks like after I’ve just glued the binding on. Actually, since I’m experimenting with a new type of binding – Verawood – and the back and sides are made of Cocobolo, (all very oily and resinous woods), I chose to use CA glue to adhere the binding on this psaltery. So there are dried glue globs, glue runs, glued-on pieces of blue masking tape, and even a tiny bit of plastic from the pad of a clamp (not visible in picture), all slathered on the back of this bowed psaltery.

A lot of people don’t realize that messes can be cleaned up. The psaltery above really isn’t in that bad of a condition – I’ve seen worse.

There, you see? All better. Just a little bit of sandpaper and elbow grease was all it took. Good as new.

And now that I’ve got the initial sealer coats on the back, I’m excited about this new binding, called Verawood. You can hardly see it in the picture, but this wood turns an olive green once exposed to light and air. It has a wavy and interlocked grain that is beautiful, but also quite difficult to work with. It is also a relative of the more well known wood, Lignum Vitae (aka Ironwood or the “tree of life”), and share many of the same working characteristics. Namely, it is just about the densest and most durable of woods on the planet. Arguably the densest.

Talk about protecting the psaltery from dings… This wood’s got it covered.