Don, my friend, you always amaze me! You come in with these questions and I know we all appreciate being ask for help and hopefully someone has some good ideas as have come out here. But the truth is that were it me asking for this kind of thing, the FIRST AND MAIN PERSON I would come to is YOU!!! I guess that's one reason I like you as you ask for help on a problem that you are all too familiar with and have more knowledge of than any of us. Thanks.

That said, I like App Dulcimers, but considering what you have said about your friend, I wouldn't now think it to be a very exciting option for him. The Tenor sounds good. I might as well throw in a dumb one here, but when you say "expression" is important, although I don't know what type of music he likes, fretless banjo comes to mind. I know its not a great idea, but it was worth a toss in the ring.

Spaw