Wow! I asked my husband, Craig Potts, to pick the number and he gave me a good one!
My number was 22...oh so close! 
Congrats to all the winners!
I have had a McSpadden with an ebony fretboard and one with a micarta fretboard. I noticed no difference in the two for how they played. Ebony is more expensive.....micarta is a real nice less-expensive alternative. Micarta is all black, whereas ebony can sometimes have some cool looking streaks in it.
Okay, I admit I have a love affair with making cigar box guitars and, especially, cigar box ukuleles. I make them and usually give them away to kids in the family or someone with an interest in learning music and not enough coin for a basic instrument. I’m including a picture of a recent uke. It’s my favorite so far, and is concert length.
Good photo, let's hear that fiddle.............
Rick Long makes the most elegant psaltery bows! I still have two beautiful walnut bows he made for me years ago when I had a redwood psaltery of his.
Just came by to drool over it again. ~sigh~ Methinks I'm jealous! 
Sad news. The other Tuesday (4 June) we had our Sheltie, Angus, put down.
GORGEOUS!!!! Want one!!!
Thank you Robin and Steven. I really appreciate you taking the time to take a look.
New bowed psaltery day!
It's a Jerry Read Smith (Song of the Wood), 2 1/2 octave (33 string) psaltery.
The top is Bolivian Rosewood, with Ziricote binding. The back is Cherry, with my very own, unique worm hole. 
I love it, is sounds as beautiful as it looks. Jerry does great work and Heather (in the office) is wonderful to work with.
I'm thinking of ordering a Folkcraft FSH or CSH in all hickory. I have a spare McSpadden case that I would like to use (I like the cases with the side walls better than the envelope style that comes with these Folkcraft models), but I need to know the overall length of either of these models (which have identical measurements) with a flat head. Can anyone provide that to me? I know the width measurements, that's no problem.
I would appreciate it, thanks!
That is beautiful! Two of my current dulcimers are custom.....one by Doug Berch (sassafras/walnut) and one by Folkcraft (butternut/walnut). The wait is agonizing, but well worth it! Looking forward to seeing yours completed. Who is building it?
I had the Olympia Walkabout Dulcimer for quite a few years, until I sold it to fund another instrument. Kevin Jones is great to work with and will build it to your specs. They are a little more, but you are getting a classy instrument that isn't tinny or toy-like. 3 2-course sets of strings, makes a beautiful, full sound.
https://olympiadulcimercompany.com/products/
In fact, here is a video of MY specific Olympia.
I love it John! Let us know when they are available for sale. 
Hi Lisa, I'm in Gaylord. If you ever have the time, you should consider attending the Evart Dulcimer Fest (ODPC Funfest) in July. It is full of workshops for all levels and all instruments. I offered to meet another new player there many years ago, to help her along, and now we are great friends. If you choose to go, my sister and I will be there this year. BTW, I'm about your age, I'm 55. I play many instruments, including the Native American Flute. There are usually several workshops for NAF at Evart too. If you have questions, feel free to PM me.
Wow @susie , those dogs are livin' the life !
We get a lot of snow in Northern Michigan. So, our dogs get a custom race track (maze) out back each year.
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Thanks for the responses and ideas, I appreciate it. Love hearing about others' instruments too. There are many options out there for makers. I contacted Master Works and found out a little more about wood choices with theirs. Decisions! 
I found an old discussion about bowed psalteries, but thought I'd start a new (current) one. I owned a psaltery a few years ago and really enjoyed it. I ended up selling it as I got into other instruments. Now I'm jonesing for another. I know there's a forum specific to psalteries, but I wanted to stick around here for this discussion.
I'm leaning towards a Master Works 30 string psaltery. My sister had one and I liked everything about it. My previous one was a Unicorn Strings. It was real nice and sounded good. I liked their plastic note guides for learning. I wish I still had those, because they were handy. Has anyone ever made their own note guides to help learning the note placement? I read music, so that really helps in learning. We travel a lot in our motor home, so the size of the instrument makes it handy for traveling. Plus, some dulcimer festivals also have psaltery workshops that can be fun.
Any dulcimer players out there who also play a psaltery?
Any discussion on the topic you'd care to share?
Now that I've learned how to embed a pic into my post (thank you Strumelia), and I didn't post a pic of my new McSpadden earlier, here you go! Still lovin' it!
I have several wonderful dulcimers, and they serve different purposes. A tune that shines on one does not necessarily work so well on another. However, at any given time I usually consider one of them my "numero uno." Right now that would be my cherry/redwood McCafferty with a 25" VSL. It works equally well for fingerpicking and flatpicking. But ask me in a few months and my answer will be different.
Playing only one dulcimer is like drinking only one kind of wine.
Dusty,
I need another dulcimer/instrument, like I need a hole in my head. That said (haha), I've told myself, if I were to get one, it would be a McCafferty. I'm happy to see your response, that that would be your choice. Can you post a pic of yours? He makes beautiful dulcimers!
