 Introduction to Bowed Psaltery
Decades ago, our family visited Black Mountain, North Carolina, to find several music stores that specialized in Folk instruments like Appalachian dulcimers. There I first encountered a bowed psaltery - a triangular instrument you could play with a bow like a violin. At the time, I couldn't afford one, so I sadly left it at the store.
Decades later, the Folk instrument stores at Black Mountain are all gone (there's a cool vintage guitar store there, though). And the major manufacturer of bowed psalteries has sadly ceased production and support.
However, there's still a lot of interest in some quarters, and several other builders of Folk instruments are still making a few every year. So I figured it was time to write about them.
At this point, I've collected several from different builders, and four different models of Unicorn Strings psalteries, so at least I have a clue about how they work.
Origins
Psalteries in general go back thousands of years, but modern psalteries that could be played with bows only go back to the early 1900s. (A related instrument, the Bowed Zither dates back to 1823. It differs by being fretted and played in the lap like an Appalachian dulcimer.)
One common (but now discontinued) version was the "Ukelin," which emerged in the 1920s. It had strings you could play with a bow as well as strings you could strum to make chords.
If you're interested in ukelins or have come across one, you can find more information here:
Modern Bowed Psalteries
The modern, triangular bowed psaltery may have evolved from the ukelin or related instruments, by eliminating the chord strings and reshaping the body. Apparently this version was popularized in postwar Germany for use in public school music programs. Whether the bowed psalteries being made in North America today drew their inspiration from the German version or developed on their own is hard to say. 
Diatonic Bowed Psalteries - "Diatonic" bowed psalteries are often made by Folk instrument builders. They have no sharps or flats, so you'll see only one row of pegs, usually down the "right" edge. (This one is a student instrument built by Westman Instruments of West Virginia. They make big psalteries, too, in case you wondered.)
Chromatic Bowed Psalteries - "Chromatic" bowed psalteries have sharps and flats. Most often the "natural" keys (like the white keys of a piano) are arranged along the right edge of the instrument, and the sharp and flat keys (like the black keys of a piano) are arranged along the left edge. You'll see gaps there, just like there are gaps between the clusters of black keys on your piano.
Usually the strings are all 10-gauge wires similar to guitar strings, which makes replacement strings easy to find. A few have 12- or 14-gauge wires for the deepest notes. The way they fasten on the instrument varies from brand to brand, though.
Bows: Psaltery bows use horsehair like violin bows, but they are usually shorter. Some stretch the horsehair out by the tension of bent wood, like an archery bow, some include a violin-type peg for screwing the strings tighter, and some have the horsehair under tension from the factory. Each builder has a preference, but the bow from one brand can be used on any other with no downside.
Whether the construction of the bow's frame contributes to the sound is beyond me to determine.
Tuning
Most bowed psalteries have two or two and half octaves.
And most of them come with some sort of guide you can use when you're starting out that shows you where the notes are.
 The tuning tool for these is pretty much the same as the tuning wrench used by autoharp players. You'll one that doesn't have too much wobble when it's in place - some tuning wrenches have a short usefulnes span.
If you know the lowest note, figuring out the other notes of the right side is relatively easy. Generally, the sharps-and-flat side is tuned like the black keys on piano, with the lowest cluster of three strings being F#, G#, and Bb. But that's not universal, so if you have access to the owner's manual or web page, you might want to check that before you get out the tuning wrench.
Try not to touch the strings.
If it's way out of tune, you should consider wearing eye protection or at least hold it away from your face.
I generally tune to a piano first, then tune to a digital tuner - some digital tuners struggle if the string is way out of tune. Be certain you're playing the string you'r tuning as you play it - it's possible to be tuning the wrong string altogether and overtighten it until it snaps. Again, try not to touch the strings. If you want use a pick to pluck the strings while you're tuning them, that's fine.
If it started out way out of tune, you may have to tune it twice before it holds its tune. Or in the worst case, come back a few hours later and tune it again. But if it's still holding its tune by the next day, you're probably good for a 2-6 weeks depending on storage.
Playing
The bow on 90% of the bowed psalteries that turn up at thrift shops or auction sites has not been properly rosined. Which is to say that they're otherwise fine instruments that sounded like the devil's part in "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" when the first owner tried them. "Bill, why did you burden me with this diabolical device? It's out of here!"
Rosin the bow by drawing it firmly across the rosen block in an X pattern. A new bow will take a few minutes. Do not touch the horsehair - oil from your hands will make that part slippery.
When drawing the bow gently across any string gives a sweet, pleasing town, you probably have enough rosin.
 When you pick up the psaltery to play, most people suggest holding the skinny end with your left hand and bracing the fat end somewhere around your waste or lower ribs. If that feels awkward, you might try bracing it against your shoulder or upper left arm. Or even on your shoulder like a violin.
People who use two bows at a time figure out how to hold it in their lap or on a stand or table.
In other words, there are common practices, but the only hard-and-fast rule is that you should be comfortable playing it.
Hold the bow a third of the way from the fat end (if there is one), and gently draw it across any of the strings, pulling it up while the string is still vibrating, before you run out of bow. Try that on several of the strings. If it still sounds "screechy," add a little more rosin. Don't worry about the rosin dust accumulating on the face of your psaltery - it wipes right off.
Again, if your psaltery came with some sort of guide to the notes, don't feel bad about using that. Or even making your own if you've lost yours.
If your psaltery came with an instruction booklet, that will usually have a few tunes to get you started. Try playing by going back and forth with the bow. Even though it may be hard to get used to at first, you'll be able to play much faster and more gracefully in time.
Playing Tunes - If you can read music, you can play pretty much any part that is written out as a solo. For example, in a "Piano-Vocal" arrangment, you can play the vocal part.
In a hymn book, you can play the top line - the sopranos almost always have the melody.
If you can't read music, you might try finding a copy of a book written for bowed psaltery or Appalachian dulcimer that has the note names under the staff.
Here, for example, is the first tune in the Unicorn Strings bowed psaltery manual.
Roll Your Own
Several folks who have built and sold these professionally have also taken time to document their process, which has in turn inspired other folks. A few examples of these instructions are below:
More Resources
Conclusion
Like most of the articles on our HarpersGuild and CreekDontRise pages, this article came as a result of reader inquiries, and discovering that much of the "information" on these things was either patchy or unreliable. So I've picked up a few different pieces to make certain what I was writing about them was correct and tracked down what seem to be the most reliable sources of information.
That said, if you have a correction or a question, please contact me and I'll be glad to hear from you.
Also, if you make or play bowed psalteries, and want to provide additional information, corrections, etc. we'd be glad to hear from you.
 Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."
And please stay in touch!
- Paul Race
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