Is the bowed psaltery more popular in the USA than here ?

My first encounter was in a small room at an early music workshop somewhere in Yorkshire
about 35 years ago.
A terrible yet oddly appealing sound.
Nastier than any reacket being made by local punk bands back them.
I wanted one, self-build kits were on sale, but I couldn't afford any.

The Bass psaltery sounds very interesting - full of potential for my purposes,
but they only seem to be available in the USA, and far too expensive
to purchase and import to UK.