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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >I kept waiting for James to jump in on this thread, but...maybe  later?
> Sandy

Me?  I can scarcely play the radio.

Lynda's suggestion of the Appalachian fretted dulcimer (so called to 
distinguish it from the hammered dulcimer) is probably the most easily 
accessible.

The reason the fretted dulcimer is "easy" is because it is diatonic.  Some of 
the frets are missing from the chronatic scale.  This means you cannot play a 
note out of the key.  Also the accompaniment is accoplished by the drone 
strings that are generally not fretted (or 'noted').  You only have to play 
the 
melody line to get a fairly rich sound.

There are thousands of tunes arranged in tablature form available free on the 
internet.  Which see:  http://www.folknotes.com/MDtab.html

There are many variations on the basic scheme of this instrument such as this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&;
item=130271911362

This same company also makes the traditional dulcimers.

Of course  I put the word "easy" in quotes at the beginning.  The fretted 
dulcimer is deceptively easy.  You can sit down with some tablature music and 
play a tune the first time pick up the instrument.  But you can dedicate 
years to 
playing it and not touch the surface of the potential vertuosity.

Another instrument to consider is the folk harp, which see at the same above 
site.  The half steps in the diatonic scale are distinguished by color, that 
is, all F's are blue and all C's are red. This means that if you pick up the 
instrument for the first time and avoid playing any of the colored strings, 
no 
matter what you play it will sound good whether it's a tune or not.  Like the 
dulcimer, you can learn to play a tune in five minutes or spend fifty years 
and 
not learn the 100th of it.

James