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Sunday, April 09, 2006




This is the zither I found in Geneva; I think it's probably from 1900-1930, but since it's unmarked there's no way to tell. The second picture shows a closeup of the tuning pegs. This is fairly high-pitched, although I released some of the tension, particularly on the bass strnigs. The third picture is the old zither, from 1855-1870 I think; it's a "Salzburg form"from Mittenwald (which largely produced another form). One indication of its age might be the narrowness of the bulge on the far side; earlier zithers were often narrow, I believe. The final photo is that of the tuning-heads of the older zither. (I note these things are not appearing in the proper order - the thin zither is the older one.) You can check out the sounds of these in the dervish, harp, cither, zither, etc. mp3 at http://www.asondheim.org - not all of the files are present at any particular time, and more are added every few days.

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