Unknown harp zither and introduction from Hungary.
Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:14 pm
Hello Dear Zitherist Friends,
I'm a new member on this forum. My name's Attila, I'm 57, and I live in Budapest, Hungary. I'm a biologist and biology teacher by education, but I've done many other things in life, too. I'm a nature, sports and music enthusiast. For long time I was a pro athlete, but I had to give up because of a mountaineering accident. Then I turned full face towards music, a longtime interest since my youth. I bought a grand piano and re-started practicing like a maniac, but soon I realised that keys were too mechanical to my liking. Still, I learnt a lot and, in the end, I successfully restored and sold my concert instrument to a pianist, which was a great achievement. Then, about 20 years ago, I picked up the guitar, and that has really become my love of an instrument. First I started with songs and accompaniment, then I realised classical music was what I really needed. Since then I have got hold of a lot of various guitars and have played different genres, Baroque, classical, Romantic, flamenco etc. I have 6-, 7-, 8-, 10.string classical guitars, flamenco guitars, a Baroque lute, even a chromatic button accordion for the keyboard parts, and recently I've been dreaming about a 32-string harp guitar, which I'm planning to get built by a luthier friend. I've got involved in lutherie, too, and occasionally I do my own guitar and lute repairs. I did setups first, bridge, saddle and bone jobs, then I dared to touch the instrument itself and now I can confidently level, crown or change frets, level, plane or replace fretboards, glue up cracks or a broken neck, do a French polishing job and many other repairs. At the same time I realised, that for mastering my future harp guitar I would need to build up confidence with multistring instruments. That's how I stumbled into the ZITHER. By now I've fallen in love with it, too, and I'm certain that this instrument has the same potential as the guitar. I don"t really understand why it isn't so popular as the guitar. A zither is smaller, lighter and more transportable than the guitar and it is capable to express just as many feelings and emotions. Perhaps the number of strings is frightening to beginners. Who knows, but it was a very fashionable instrument in the 19th century, even in royal courts, so there's definitely no reason for being afraid of it.
Whatever the cause of their obscurity, at present in my country concert zithers, harfenzithers, alpine zithers and the like are not very well-known instruments. We have our Hungarian zither, but it is a completely different animal. Now, when I'm about to buy an alpine-style zither, I'm facing a serious problem, all available specimens here are, in fact, museum antiques from the period of the Austro-Hungarian empire, presumably recycled from waste dumping sites, estate cleanouts or garage sales, needing a big investment in their restoration. As I'm not very experienced with zithers, I'd like to ask your advice about the one in the photos. It is up for sale for about 150 euros, and, as you can see, it needs complete restoration. Is it worth to buy such an antique instrument? I don't need it for an ornament, I'd like to play Bach and Weiss music on it. I've only seen it in the photos, but from what I see I presume that it was stored in a basement or a similar mouldy place, and the metal parts are all covered with corrosion. The "furnier" seems to have come up in several places from the top, and the I'm sure the tuning pegs and the machine need cleaning, too. The fretboard seems to be made of ebony, but I'm sure it needs leveling, maybe crack filling, and the frets would need to be replaced with stainless steel ones anyway. I just presume that the internal ribs are sound, but the bridge and the saddles definitely need much work, along with the guide pins. I don't know what type of strings to put on it if I eventually succeed in buying and repairing it. What do you think? Should I go to see it, or should I forget it because it isn't worth the effort? Should I go for it, take it as it is, should I bargain for it (how much is it worth?) or should I rather buy a new instrument from the Wünsche workshop? What I'd really like is an altzither, that would be nice for the Baroque repertoire, but it's rather expensive, I'm afraid. Apart from the price of a new instrument, my biggest worry is mailing it from Germany to my country and not being able to actually try the instrument first. As for the antique piece, I could (and should) do the restoration myself (there are no alpine zither specialists here), but I'd rather play music than spend a lot of precious time repairing a worthless crap. Please help with your experience and expert advice. Any input or comment, long or short, would be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention and reply.
Attila
I'm a new member on this forum. My name's Attila, I'm 57, and I live in Budapest, Hungary. I'm a biologist and biology teacher by education, but I've done many other things in life, too. I'm a nature, sports and music enthusiast. For long time I was a pro athlete, but I had to give up because of a mountaineering accident. Then I turned full face towards music, a longtime interest since my youth. I bought a grand piano and re-started practicing like a maniac, but soon I realised that keys were too mechanical to my liking. Still, I learnt a lot and, in the end, I successfully restored and sold my concert instrument to a pianist, which was a great achievement. Then, about 20 years ago, I picked up the guitar, and that has really become my love of an instrument. First I started with songs and accompaniment, then I realised classical music was what I really needed. Since then I have got hold of a lot of various guitars and have played different genres, Baroque, classical, Romantic, flamenco etc. I have 6-, 7-, 8-, 10.string classical guitars, flamenco guitars, a Baroque lute, even a chromatic button accordion for the keyboard parts, and recently I've been dreaming about a 32-string harp guitar, which I'm planning to get built by a luthier friend. I've got involved in lutherie, too, and occasionally I do my own guitar and lute repairs. I did setups first, bridge, saddle and bone jobs, then I dared to touch the instrument itself and now I can confidently level, crown or change frets, level, plane or replace fretboards, glue up cracks or a broken neck, do a French polishing job and many other repairs. At the same time I realised, that for mastering my future harp guitar I would need to build up confidence with multistring instruments. That's how I stumbled into the ZITHER. By now I've fallen in love with it, too, and I'm certain that this instrument has the same potential as the guitar. I don"t really understand why it isn't so popular as the guitar. A zither is smaller, lighter and more transportable than the guitar and it is capable to express just as many feelings and emotions. Perhaps the number of strings is frightening to beginners. Who knows, but it was a very fashionable instrument in the 19th century, even in royal courts, so there's definitely no reason for being afraid of it.
Whatever the cause of their obscurity, at present in my country concert zithers, harfenzithers, alpine zithers and the like are not very well-known instruments. We have our Hungarian zither, but it is a completely different animal. Now, when I'm about to buy an alpine-style zither, I'm facing a serious problem, all available specimens here are, in fact, museum antiques from the period of the Austro-Hungarian empire, presumably recycled from waste dumping sites, estate cleanouts or garage sales, needing a big investment in their restoration. As I'm not very experienced with zithers, I'd like to ask your advice about the one in the photos. It is up for sale for about 150 euros, and, as you can see, it needs complete restoration. Is it worth to buy such an antique instrument? I don't need it for an ornament, I'd like to play Bach and Weiss music on it. I've only seen it in the photos, but from what I see I presume that it was stored in a basement or a similar mouldy place, and the metal parts are all covered with corrosion. The "furnier" seems to have come up in several places from the top, and the I'm sure the tuning pegs and the machine need cleaning, too. The fretboard seems to be made of ebony, but I'm sure it needs leveling, maybe crack filling, and the frets would need to be replaced with stainless steel ones anyway. I just presume that the internal ribs are sound, but the bridge and the saddles definitely need much work, along with the guide pins. I don't know what type of strings to put on it if I eventually succeed in buying and repairing it. What do you think? Should I go to see it, or should I forget it because it isn't worth the effort? Should I go for it, take it as it is, should I bargain for it (how much is it worth?) or should I rather buy a new instrument from the Wünsche workshop? What I'd really like is an altzither, that would be nice for the Baroque repertoire, but it's rather expensive, I'm afraid. Apart from the price of a new instrument, my biggest worry is mailing it from Germany to my country and not being able to actually try the instrument first. As for the antique piece, I could (and should) do the restoration myself (there are no alpine zither specialists here), but I'd rather play music than spend a lot of precious time repairing a worthless crap. Please help with your experience and expert advice. Any input or comment, long or short, would be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention and reply.
Attila