Acoustic minimal ambience?

Looking to expand my ambient catalogue with more organic sounds. Very hard to find this stuff, YouTube and Google searches all return sample libraries and ambient music using Yamaha strings presets. Anything acoustic, droney, with string instruments or similar would be excellent. Preferably not so much piano, plucked instruments, jazz or movie soundtracks. Maybe there's something in the avant-garde camp I'm missing? I found some Morton Feldman but it was so damn dissonant.

Have you heard Feldman's Rothko Chapel? It's not that dissonant.

I can't think of much stuff that's heavily string based off the top of my head, but how about percussive stuff?

I got this album recently, really nice: 

This is amazing too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWGjYg2LmZQ

and I know you said no Piano, but Harold Budd is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJxaD3ofOuo

All performed live to stereo on purely acoustic instruments inside a large cistern in the early 90s.

lots of lucier. music for piano and magnetic string and music for gamelan instruments

Recently found this, maybe you like it (but it has some dissonant passages):

  On 12/19/2016 at 3:44 PM, chim said:

Maybe there's something in the avant-garde camp I'm missing?

"musique concrète" is a good keyword.

Oh, and I really love these:

Wow, some very cool suggestions so far. I didn't expect such left-field experimental works, it wasn't what I had in mind, but it's certainly fascinating stuff that warrants further exploration. That Techkla album reminds me of Shapeshifter, very unique stuff.

I gave Feldman's Rothko piece a listen and it was really good. The flutes in that Midori album are really quite gorgeous. I have listened to and loved Harold Budd for over a decade now so I'll allow it. I vaguely recognize the Deep Listening Band, probably from sleepbot.org, but haven't heard that album. What an extraordinary sound, right up my alley. The choral arrangements are a nice addition.

I like all the suggestions but some are quite abrasive. What I was looking for was a bit more restrained droney stuff, something suitable for painting to. Along the lines of Alio Die's works. Tom Heasley is another interesting character who makes treated Tuba compositions. But I'll take whatever I can get.

https://youtu.be/UWzCkiWcrx0

string/wire & acoustic based drone type :

https://www.discogs.com/Ellen-Fullman-The-Long-String-Instrument/master/899297

https://www.discogs.com/Bertoia-Bellissima-Bellissima-Bellissima-Nova/release/688715

https://www.discogs.com/Yoshi-Wada-Earth-Horns-With-Electronic-Drone/release/1733723

https://www.discogs.com/Alan-Lamb-Archival-Recordings-Primal-Image-Beauty/release/170796

https://www.discogs.com/Terry-Fox-Linkage/release/947537

https://www.discogs.com/Alvin-Lucier-Music-On-A-Long-Thin-Wire/release/757891

ThIs series is may be my favourite ambient series although its something in-between analogue and digital - its electromagnetic transcriptions of a sort.

https://www.discogs.com/label/526202-Symphonies-Of-The-Planets   

GRM were have a lot to offer - theres years of pioneering ambience and everything in between. 

https://www.discogs.com/label/6111-INA-GRM

you could run thread after thread on this group/label/institution alone.  there probably is/ 

"GRM were have a lot to offer - theres years of pioneering ambience and everything in between". 

sorry this doesn't make much sense  now  that i read it.  its good music tho. 

Kaki King - Frame

Great thread

Look up Andrew Chalk, Elodie and Timo van Luijk.

Edit: Some of Dave Jackman's Organum output might fall under this as well.