The problem with the bowed psaltery, is that all the unbowed strings are undamped, thus you get infinite resonances well actually dissonances....

"A hurdy-gurdy disproves the theory that it's the musician rather than the instrument"

As an owner of a Symphonie (the smaller earlier relative), and teh son of a violin p[layer, I have discovered the secret...

If you bow a violin string hard at the same ratio point where the HG wheel strikes the string, you will get the same scratchy sound on a violin... I discovered that if you get the correct combination of rosin, and fluffiness of the cotton (actually, it has to be WOOL, NOT COTTON!), it allows the string to vibrate freely, without ACTUALLY hitting the wheel itself! This gives you a sweet violin sound! A VERY different sound, sweet!, trust me!

:-)