Hello Zitherist Friends,
I'm very glad to announce that I have a new zither! To be correct, it isn't a new zither but a rather old one, maybe about 80-100 years old. It's in a reasonably good condition, but it needs some restoration. I think I can cope with the fixing job, but I need some specialist advice from more experienced zitherists.
One such problem is the bridge. It has a slotted bridge, and a lot of the wood is chipped off. It could serve its function theoretically, but it's rather ugly and it has another, bigger issue as well. The inner (left) part of the bridge, where the metal saddle should be, is worn off in such an extent that another, narrow secondary bridge was glued next to the original bridge for the unfretted strings to break over. Therefore the unfretted strings have a shorter length than the fretted strings, but obviously it caused no problem for the previous owner. Now, I'd like to remove the secondary bridge, along with the chipped slotted bridge, and fix a new, decent bridge to the top. I have three main questions concerning this operation. One, what kind of wood should I use for the bridge? Two, should I reproduce the original, deep-slotted design or can I use my imagination to design and make a less fragile construction? Three, what kind of wire should I use for the saddle?
As for the wood type, ebony is my preference, especially because I have some unused fretboard blanks, but I also have rosewood, and I can use other types of wood, too.
Another problem is the fretboard. It is ebony, cracked in a few places, and someone has mended it with glue in a very unsightly way. I'd like to keep the original fretboard, but I'll need to level its surface to get rid of the glue marks. The only way to do a decent leveling is without the frets. However, I'm not too happy about removing the frets, because it'd be a big job to put them back and level/re-crown them. The frets look good, but they are all light green(!) and shiny. I haven't touched them yet. Another issue is that two of the frets are shorter, if I need a re-fret, I'd like to replace them to longer ones. I just don't know how to extend the short fret slots, because the existing frets don't run all the way to the fingerboard edge. Should I use a router with a thin bit, or is there another way of cutting the slots into the board? Of course, I can use a fretting saw, and slot the fretboard the same way as a guitar fretboard, but then the slots would run all the way to the edge of the board, which is not the accepted way, I think. To fret or not to fret, that is the question...
The third problem is with the feet. I have removed the original spiked threaded ivory feet from the bottom of the instrument, but one of them won't get out. The head (ball) of the foot (which has an internal thread, too) has twisted off, but the threaded shaft has stayed put in the wood. Apparently, someone has glued it into the wood, probably because the shaft was moving in the hole. What should I do? I'd like to remove the shaft because I want to replace the paint with some nice rosewood veneer on the bottom.
These are my main problems for now. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!
Attila
Bridge fretboard and feet issues
Moderator: Dave