So she ordered some bridges and strings from me and did the rest herself! (Well together with her husband)
Looks pretty cool eh?
Here's what she said:
"The guzheng is good enough to practice on, even though it's no substitute for a real instrument. I use it on weekends when we are in Sweden. It has a surprisingly good sound, considering it's a big heavy pine box! A piano tuner donated the tuning pegs and told us what sort of wood to use for them, and we consulted a book about piano building to learn details about how to drill the holes for them. We tried to mimic the curved top of a real guzheng by making the end pieces (that the strings go over) curved, and by arranging the bridges with the smallest on either end and the tallest in the middle. That's why I bought two sets of bridges, so we had enough of the different sizes to choose from. But despite all that, the strings are basically pretty flat. It isn't a big problem for occasional practice, though. And I measured the distance between the strings on my Dunhuang guzheng carefully, so the octave reach on this instrument is correct."
You're right Ann, it does sound pretty good! And you played it really well!
Well, we hope she does not do this seriously and put us out of business....