I have a hard time even concieving the hammer dulcimer without wire strings of some kind. A harp or a viol or a psaltry can be strung with organic (gut or silk) strings and plucked or bowed. But I just don't think gut strings on a dulcimer would work. They would break too easily and surely wouldn't produce much volume. And since the dulcimer is mentioned in the Bible (Book of Daniel) that would mean that, if it has always been wire-strung, musical wire existed over 2,000 years ago. I'm no archeologist or anthropologist, but I would bet that the technique of drawing metal into wire was originally developed for use in jewelery and that the use of wire on musical instruments came not much later.

Bruce