Admittedly, I don't know much about hammered dulcimers; I bought this as a gift. It's the cheapest one I could find that still looked of some quality, so I'd consider this an "entry level" hammered dulcimer. The quality of the workmanship seems decent, if minimalistic in form. It definitely has a distinctive sound, like a small harpsichord. The case is good but the instrument does have some room to move around inside so I would still handle it carefully. Shipping from Turkey was faster than expected; I believe it only took about two weeks to get to me (Northwest Indiana).

I did notice that the bridges are independent pegs, one for each line of strings, which has me somewhat concerned as they can move around freely and I would suspect that would affect the tuning. They are mainly held in place by each line of 4 strings, so it might hard to keep them in place and tune the instrument correctly. There are also no dots or lines indicating exactly where the pegs should be placed.

Time will tell as I'm about to present this as a Xmas gift, so I'll update my review later.

[Edit]
I'm updating this to 5 stars. I got it for my mom who wanted a hammered dulcimer, but she couldn't figure it out. So recently I borrowed it back and watched some vids and charts online, and figured out how to tune and play a Santoor in a couple hours. Tuning took most of that time as the left bridge positioning has to be adjusted until you get the perfect octave on each side. Even while tuning it, I noticed how wonderful the acoustic chamber sounded, almost like a giant cave in a very small space, and when done it sounded amazing. I found it intuitive and easy to play, and while the construction is undecorated it does have the feel and look of a quality instrument. I normally play electric bass and I'm very impressed with this. Enough to want to steal it for myself. ;)

For the price, I'd have to recommend this very strongly. But, be prepared to learn something pretty new and to spend a lot of time on tuning, especially if you don't already know about Santoors and how they differ from american dulcimers.

arrived in a timely matter , no damage . Sounds good , was a gift for my husband who played santooor as a young man in Iran . He was surprised it was very much like the one he had .

The instrument sounds wonderful for how inexpensive. I have had many hours of fun with this Santur.

It will come with loose bridges and will be incredibly out of tune. Be prepared to spend some time putting it together and tuning it. It de-tunes very quickly, as is with most string instruments, but in part because the tuning pegs are able to move up and down in addition to rotating. This causes the instrument to de-tune whenever it is moved. Overall, the tuning peg issue is incredibly annoying since it takes about 30mins at least to tune the instrument. Once it is tuned, it sounds great.

If you are wanting a Santur to learn on , have fun with, or even perform, then this is perfect for you.

To see Rich Mullins play this instrument is amazing. So I bought one. I don't know musical notes, but maybe a miracle will happen and I'll learn, or someone I know will be able to play it.

This one had small knobs instead of a long bar where the strings go over and under, so some of the knobs where out of place.

I like it and I love Rich Mullins :)

Amazing quality for the price! Arrived MUCH faster than expected and way before the promised date on listing.