I just passed my stress test - heart's functioning well. Ta da!

Congrats. (I failed mine on Wednesday about as badly as it was possible to and still walk from the bus stop to get it).

I deserve a reward, and that reward will be a new fretted dulcimer, one with the richest, mellowest tone to be had and that plays in tune all the way up.

The most awesome tone I've ever heard from a dulcimer was one that Lindsay Porteous adapted for himself a few months ago. It's a cumbus-tanbur from our local bellydance and Middle Eastern musical instruments shop, with the original microtonal nylon frets taken off and metal diatonic frets put on. That was the only modification, I think. It has a huge scale length for a dulcimer, so your left hand will need to work hard.