Reading this thread I find myself thinking maybe I'll try to put all those buttons and bars back on mine. I took 'em off and tuned the instrument to some mysterioso minor modally mutated kind of tuning, so folks who claim they're "not musical" can pick it up and tinker with it. Anything plucked on it sounds deep and contemplative. Hard to put it down. But now I want to play some folk music on it again! Hmmmm, I wonder where all those little parts go...a bunch of springs flew out of the bars when I first took it apart....

Mark