Thank you very much, Ken, for the recommendation - I will ask him.

Talk to Jerry Read Smith at Song Of The Wood, in Black Mountain, NC.  I understand he has closed the downtown shop, but continues to work out of his home.

I guess I need to add to the description of my "desired" HD that I would like to have the lower half of a 16/15 in order to get the deep tones - with a bottom rail of around 42 '', thickness of around 4'' but only half the height (so only around 8-9 '') - I called this "little" travel one (compared to the complete 16/15) which might be misleading.

I would be interested in a 9/8 hammered dulcimer - but starting with a D3 as the lowest string.
I already have a Dusty strings D45 and a TK O'Brian Travel and would like to have the "advantage" of a little travel one but with the wonderful low tones of a 16/15.
Do you know if there exist these kinds of hammered dulcimers or could you recommend a builder who could build it for a "payable" price?