Like khandu I built a hammered dulcimer from a kit. It was harder to do than I expected, but I enjoyed the building and finishing. Unfortunately, in the end I had an instrument whose sound was not entirely satisfactory to my ears. Unfortunately, for me that was all that mattered. I learned the hard way that an amateur luthier can work quite hard to produce, at best, a mediocre instrument. Looking back I wonder what in the world I was thinking. I have since left instrument building to the professionals.

If you know exactly what sound you want, and you care sufficiently, buy a completed instrument from a pro. Otherwise, building an instrument can be a lot of fun if you like that sort of thing.