Thanks Tom. Lots of misconceptions out there. Kurt and Ludwig have been doing Oktoberfest at the F.C.Bayern/Milwaukee Oktoberfest Wein Pavilion for the last three weekends; thank God, only one more weekend to go. Amazing the number of people who have never even seen a zither, heard it, or what it is...

The Wikipedia section on the concert zither indicates that the bass and contra stringsare plucked by the third finger of the LEFT hand. Anyone doing this?

Anyone with a Wikipedia account want to make a correction?

Rudi

More photos:

There was quite a celebration at the Zither Sunday of September 14. Kurt Eckroth presented Jeff Palinek with a brand new Sasha Radicic Zither! Jeff was of course flabergasted. The quality of workmanship was astonishing. The tone and resonance of this creation had to be heard to believe. Its beauty a...

There will be a Zither Sunday at the home of Kurt Eckroth in Wales, Wisconsin on Sunday, September 14, 2014. Lunch will be at approximately 12:00 noon, with the sessions following. All interested players, students, and friends of the zither are welcome.

Rudi Mueller

Ken, addenda:

The bass response is satisfactory for my needs. Is that "thin top" laminated?

On a thicker table, is sound converted to heat and lost?

Rudi

Thanks Ken, One of my goals in taking up the zither was to play some of the songs we sang as kids, at home, and this table top works quite well in these "Haus Musik" situations. The hall used at the KinderKamp in August is all pine paneled, with a maple floor. The flags added actually soft...

Welcome RobB,

New Paltz looks like it's within driving distance of Connecticut and New York City, where you'll find players with some experience. Dave might be able to share some e-addresses with you.

Rudi

It was desired to prepare a table which would lend itself to travel better than a previous model which (a) was made of walnut and was on the heavy side, and (b) had a reflecting surface, which local players concluded added nothing to the acoustics. The current rev was constructed of scrap pine with ...

In addition to diameter, is weight per unit length a consideration? in addition to any resultant tension differences? There are some pretty good guitar string calculators out there on the web.

Some local pro's change strings on an almost quarterly basis. Mine seem to last for years.

Rudi