After a very helpful phone conversation I ordered the hourglass kit in walnut, it was shipped exactly when I needed it. There were no flaws whatsoever, I put it together in a few days and am very happy with the result. The dulcimer sounds great and the playability is very good.
The only problems I had came from my not always understanding the sequence of building steps. All my fault, but maybe the instructions could be even clearer when it comes to pics/text and what to do when. And this only resulted in a couple of gaps between body and fretboard which I managed to fill with walnut scraps from what I had cut away.
