receiving my zither tomorrow

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kiemnguyen

receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by kiemnguyen »

Hi,

I am new (the 50-th) to this forum, thanks Dave for adding me to the group.

The reason I join because I ordered an old concert zither from eBay (advertized as in "excellent playing condition"). I just have to pray for it to stand up to the ads, but do expect worst (slipping tuning pins, etc...). It does have a long crack on the back which I believe due to joint separation.

If the zither I get has some issues preventing me from playing (I mean learning to play), I will ask for advises from senior members. I would have it by now if I did not go out of town during the ThanksGiving week.
I do feel excited right at this moment trying to imagine how this instrument will stand up to.

Here are my background:
I am quite proficient in music theory, sight reading and playing by ears. Currently, I play a variety of instruments for church gathering (piano, keyboards, guitars (finger picking and strumming), mandolins, a bit of ukulele.

I have also built one mandolin from an easy kit and a tenor ukulele from scratch with success.
and the best part: I just retired (will be 62 next Jan) and will have plenty of time to practice this lovely concert zither.

I live in the Bay Area (California) with some frequent travels to Los Angeles area and France.

Kiem
Kennethpauls
Posts: 104
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:45 pm
Location: Ventura Beach, California

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by Kennethpauls »

Hi Kiem; and welcome.
I live in Los Angeles, and there are three other players spread over So. Cal. as well- we started a small group together for practicing. Two of us speak French, if that helps.
Hope the new zither arrives in good condition. Congratulations; it's a wonderful instrument to learn. Defininitely not easy, but a great quest.
You're welcome to contact me at kennethpauls@me.com
Kenneth Paul
kiemnguyen

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by kiemnguyen »

I finally got it. It was delivered to my neighbor's door in the afternoon while I sat at home waiting for it.
In the evening, my neighbor brought it to me, I only have time to open the box and take a quick look, then had to go for a Xmas music rehearsal !!!

And hi Kenneth, I will certainly contact you and visit you some days whenever it's convenient for you (in the next 3 months for sure).
BTW, I speak French too.
velocio
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:19 am
Location: CA 93449

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by velocio »

Welcome, Kiem, to the CA zither player community (all four of us, so far!).
I live in Pismo Beach (when I'm not in France or Bavaria), and come regularly enough up to the Bay Area to visit with kids and grandson. There will be opportunities to meet, next year! Your welcome to contact me at velocio1@me.com.
Joseph
kiemnguyen

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by kiemnguyen »

Hi velocio,

Thanks for letting me know you are in CA, I will certainly contact you via email.

For the last 10 days, I have played around with my zither quite a bit and found that it sounds good, it is in very good shape, everything works as expected. Nothing needs to be replaced except the strings of course.
Before I spend about 200$ for a new string set, I simply put on new guitar strings and tune the harmony strings chromatically and add about 5 bass strings (tuned as F G A B C). I know this is wrong but it allows me to practice playing the melody and practice the accompaniment separately.
The melody part is not too bad as the fretboard strings are tuned like a mandola (in 5-th), the harmony and bass strings are so closed together, I need to practice a lot more to get clean playing from them.
It also tests to see if the tuning pins hold tune properly. So far so good.

If there is a place selling zither strings set cheaper than 200$, please let me know.
Rudy Mueller
Posts: 603
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:33 am
Location: Grafton WI 53024 RMUELLERMKE@GMAIL.COM

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by Rudy Mueller »

Ouch. I've only done that once, when no other was available, e.g. a flat accompaniment.. In der Not friszt der Teufi' Fliegen. A lot of engineering went into the zither framework, and the tension on each string is important. Re-stringing is an art in itself.

You may want to check with Anne Prinz, Kurt, and others, or if you want to start importing, schneider.musik.de. If you import, watch out for security and import duties; with all that wire, the box will probably be scrutinized.

Rudy
velocio
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:19 am
Location: CA 93449

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by velocio »

Another option is http://www.saitenbedarf.de
I did order from SchneiderMusik.de in the past and was happy with the outcome. I don't have experience with saitenbedarf.de yet.
Rudy Mueller
Posts: 603
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:33 am
Location: Grafton WI 53024 RMUELLERMKE@GMAIL.COM

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by Rudy Mueller »

How often to re-string?

I usually wait until one snaps, then replace the set, avoiding the contras. (The old contras sound great, perhaps "mehr schrammelig". (now there's a new word for you german lexicographers). mir san mir!

rudi
kiemnguyen

Re: receiving my zither tomorrow

Post by kiemnguyen »

I fully understood the reason for tuning in 5-th for the harmony / bass strings.
It makes the 3 main keys of each song (for example F C G) easy to reach as they are next to each other, one just need to move fingers by one string position and voila we got it.
However, this tuning scheme requires the complete zither string set costing around 150$ to 200$ and I only want to spend this amount once I know two things:
1) my zither is solid and hold tunes well
2) I can play simple songs with my current tuning for harmony / bass strings.

As I played around with the zither, some idea came up and I looked around and found an instrument called the auto harp. This one is on the opposite side of the concert zither on the difficulty scale.
It is the easiest instrument to play, if you know the chord names !!! I play it right away when I hold one the first time in my life. So I ordered one. The auto harp is designed in USA and string suppliers are easy to find, about 64$ for one set of 36 strings (to cover exactly 3 octaves).
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