Grab -

Nearly all kits will have pre-bent parts, and with any of them it doesn't matter much how the part got to the shape it is - you just put them together. But it's a lot of fun to forgo the kit and do it all yourself. The best sounding lap dulcie I built was all from boatyard scrap. If you're even a bit "woodworky" by inclination, it's really not all that hard to set up for simple bending.

Now those "carved tops" on the fiddles, that sort of look all bent out of shape but aren't, are a real challenge I haven't been up to facing. Not so much that it would be too difficult, but it would require more patience and time than I've had to invest.

John