• Top: Eastern Red Cedar
  • Back: Maple
  • Price: $240
  • Item No. RCMA0032








Photo by Robert Batey
Ringing Strings Bowed Psalteries  

handcrafted by Rick Long
Clinton, Tennessee
(865) 660-4026
ricklong@ringingstrings.com


Here is a larger picture of what is included with each bowed psaltery -
Padded Case
Tuning Wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD and Songbook
The songbook now inlcudes 23 songs to learn by number
Note Markers
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  • Top: Figured Cherry
  • Back: Maple
  • Price: $300
  • Item No. CYMA0015L








Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
  • Top: Quilted Maple
  • Back: Walnut
  • Price: $360
  • Item No. QMWA0016








Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
====================================================================================================
====================================================================================================
Click picture to enlarge






































You can tell which ones are the new ones by the pictures.  I am photographing them laying on their side starting this year.  You can see more of each side of the psaltery, along with the front and back.  I am also photographing with a bow, so you can see what that looks like with the psaltery.  Sound clips are beside each listing so you can actually hear that specific psaltery being played.



These soprano psalteries are just under 15" long, 5" wide, and 1 1/4" thick.  The lowest note is "C" above middle "C" or C5 and go up in pitch to "A" in the next octave or A6.









Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge

The quilted maple I use comes from the Washington state/Oregon region.  It is from the big leaf maple tree.  Quilted maple is a grain variaton ithat is not found in every tree.  Similar to curly or birds-eye maple.  Finding wood this beautiful is like finding a treasure to a woodworker.  My favorite time is when I apply the first coat of finish and get to admire the color and grain.
  • Top: Myrtlewood
  • Back: Figured Walnut
  • Price: $380
  • Item No. MWWA0010








The myrtlewood top on this psaltery is also very rare.  This wood only grows in Southern Oregon and in the Holy land.  I got a small supply from a gentleman that had bought it at an auction when a veneer company closed down several years ago in Knoxville, TN.  It has wild figure and a very dark color you just don't see in newly sawn pieces of myrtlewood.  No stain used on my psalteries, just the natural color of the wood with a clear lacquer finish.  It is most common to see offering plates in churches made from myrtlewood.
  • Top: Myrtlewood
  • Back: Crotch Claro Walnut (Beautiful!!)
  • Price: $450
  • Item No. MWWA0011








Please use the word "psaltery" in the subject of your e-mail. Also include a phone number as a second way for me to contact you.
  • Top: Eastern Red Cedar
  • Back: Maple
  • Price: $240
  • Item No. RCMA0033








  • Top: Holly
  • Back: Maple
  • Price: $340
  • Item No. HYMA0004








Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
  • Top: Ambrosia Maple
  • Back: Walnut
  • Price: $280
  • Item No. AMWA0016








The ambrosia maple gets it's name from the insect that bores into the maple tree and causes the stains.  That is the ambrosia beetle.  If you look closely at the center of each streak you will see from one to three small black holes.  The tree is a soft maple that is native to Tennessee.  Mother nature did a fine job with her paintbrush on this wood.  Great color!
  • Top: Quilted Maple
  • Back:  Walnut
  • Price: $360
  • Item No. QMWA0017








The quilted maple I use comes from the Washington state/Oregon region.  It is from the big leaf maple tree.  Quilted maple is a grain variaton ithat is not found in every tree.  Similar to curly or birds-eye maple.  Finding wood this beautiful is like finding a treasure to a woodworker.  My favorite time is when I apply the first coat of finish and get to admire the color and grain.

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  • Top: Eastern Red Cedar
  • Back: Maple
  • Price: $240
  • Item No. RCMA0032








Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
Click picture to enlarge
Eastern Red Cedar is a native tree to East Tennessee, where I live.  It is sometimes referred to as aromatic cedar.  It is commonly used for closet or chest linings.  I search for boards that are from larger trees.  The cedar is an evergreen that is covered with limbs.  There will be a knot, in the board, at each limb.  The older trees will have a trunk section that will be free of these knots.  The color is fantastic, going from red to a cream color.
Click picture to enlarge
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
====================================================================================================
====================================================================================================
Click picture to enlarge
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
  • Top: Curly Maple
  • Back:  Maple
  • Price: $300
  • Item No. CMMA0002



A customer requested one like this on a special order.  I had never paired two woods so similar in color for the soundboard and back.  I'll have to say I really liked it and decided to build another.








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Click picture to enlarge
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
  • Top: Wormy Chestnut
  • Back:  Walnut
  • Price: $260
  • Item No. CHWA0018








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Click picture to enlarge
Price includes:
Bow
Tuning wrench
Rosin
Extra Strings
Instruction DVD
and Play by Number Book
Padded Case
  • Top: Firgured Cherry
  • Back:  Maple
  • Price: $300
  • Item No. CYMA0016








Eastern Red Cedar is a native tree to East Tennessee, where I live.  It is sometimes referred to as aromatic cedar.  It is commonly used for closet or chest linings.  I search for boards that are from larger trees.  The cedar is an evergreen that is covered with limbs.  There will be a knot, in the board, at each limb.  The older trees will have a trunk section that will be free of these knots.  The color is fantastic, going from red to a cream color.
The myrtlewood top on this psaltery is also very rare.  This wood only grows in Southern Oregon and in the Holy land.  I got a small supply from a gentleman that had bought it at an auction when a veneer company closed down several years ago in Knoxville, TN.  It has wild figure and a very dark color you just don't see in newly sawn pieces of myrtlewood.  No stain used on my psalteries, just the natural color of the wood with a clear lacquer finish.  It is most common to see offering plates in churches made from myrtlewood.
Holly is the whitest wood in nature.  I carved the design around the sound hole with a 1/8" gouge chisel by hand.  Holly is a great wood to carve, the grain is very tight and is a pleasure to work with.  The design is larger than I usually carve.  Someone told me it looks like a feather.  I guess it does, but that wasn't on purpose.
Eastern Red Cedar is a native tree to East Tennessee, where I live.  It is sometimes referred to as aromatic cedar.  It is commonly used for closet or chest linings.  I search for boards that are from larger trees.  The cedar is an evergreen that is covered with limbs.  There will be a knot, in the board, at each limb.  The older trees will have a trunk section that will be free of these knots.  The color is fantastic, going from red to a cream color.
The wormy chestnut I used on this psaltery is recycled from an old barn that was torn down in the Asheville, NC area. 
The sound holes on this psaltery have a radial design carved around each one.  I do this with a 1/8" gouge chisel.
This is a left hand model.
3-4-2010





This tune is "When It's Iris Time in Tennessee".  It used to be the Tennessee state song.  This shows an example of how to easily reach to the left side of the psaltery for a sharp or flat (like playing a black key on a piano).  Notice how I tip the psaltery toward the bow to make that reach a little smoother and quicker.












This tune is "Christmas Day Ida Moarnin'".  It's a great tune and I love to play it.  This is a good example of how to hold the psaltery and bow when playing. 
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