eric@phantasypsalteries.com

I bet you may have been wondering something: just what does a bowed psaltery sound like? They're quite unique sounding, but not only that, but my bowed psalteries use wound strings, so their range is about an octave lower than normal. (You can also request regular steel strings on the custom order form, too.)

Below you can listen to all the natural notes on the right-hand side of the psaltery. Since there are two different string types available, I've recorded two different files, one using a psaltery with each different string material. The difference is fairly subtle, and perhaps you may be unable to tell the difference online, but I felt it helpful to include samples of both string options.

 

Nickel-Plated Wound Strings	Bronze-Phosphor Wound Strings

The lowest note heard was G3, the first G below middle C. The highest note was C6, the second C above middle C.

 

3 Octave Nickel-Plated Wound Strings

(Range: G2 to G5)

In the interest of giving you a better picture of the overall sound and range of my psalteries, I thought it would be helpful to include a song or two that I've played with my psalteries. This is simply to give you an idea of the tone and range, and not necessarily for your listening enjoyment. (I'll leave that up to you to make the music!)

So, I am going to include a mini-jukebox player below, which you can use to listen to songs as I add them.

Otherwise, there are also a few songs played on a plain-steel stringed psaltery available on my psaltery-building site, A Psimple Psaltery.

Copyright © 2010 Eric Meier