I don't care for hammer dulcimers unless they have dampers. To me, an undamped dulcimer begins to sound like a subway station after a very short while.

Bowed psalteries have a tinny sound, but they're much nicer than a ukelin which REALLY sounds thin.

My understanding is that the bowed psaltery was invented in Germany in the early 1900's based on pictures from paintings, and that Renaissance psalteries were all plucked or struck. If someone knows of documented evidence to prove or disprove this, I would be very interested.