I think it's a little hard for us today to picture how popular the zither was in teh latter part of the 19th century. All the mail order catalogues czrried them, often in several models. Just the sheer number of those smaller instruments with three contra basses that survive is testimony to how perv...

I use my little finger a lot (left hand). I guess it comes from years of guitar playing as well as other instruments but I find it very handy. There are so many times when I need the other fingers free to grab something and I use the little finger for some lower notes. I guess that's what happens wh...

Looks like he learned to play out of the Darr book. Look at the little finger. I tried that when I first started and soon realized that this was not a good way to play. Very interesting. Thanks for putting this up, Dave.

Ken Bloom

Hi Tom, That's info I wasn't aware of. Thank you! Lowering the pitch would certainly contribute to the rather pointed tone that Karas gets and make vibrato easier. Have you ever seen one of the Karas zithers? I saw one once at Rudi Wacek's house. The body was much deeper at the bass side than the fi...

To answer Rudi's question several posts back, I think what he is asking is what is usually referred to as the height of the action on the fretboard. There really is no "standard" answer here. Lower action is easier on the left hand but reduces your ability to play expressively. A higher ac...

Hi Rudi, I have found that string spacing to be highly variable one zither to the next. I have two Meinels and one Amberger and the spacing is different on all of them. My Meinel senior is just little closer together than the Meinel junior. Many of the older simpler zithers I've come across have rat...

Great point Tom! This is especially true if your strings are old. Over the years I've grwon accustomed to averaging out what the meter says with what my ears tell me. None of them are foolproof but I do like a tuner that has a VU meter and lets me know how flat or sharp it is in cents. Then I can do...

I just checked. Seems like this tuner has been discontinued but I saw one on eBay that went for $35.00 but was sold. If you can find one, they really are great. The new one, the ST-1100 sat I think, is expensive. Don't know what the specs are. I paid about $100.00 for mine quite a few years ago, at ...

No, it's not cheap but I have found it to be a very useful tool. I've had it for years. I just use the built in microphone. Not good for noisy situations but does great most of the time. For times when I'm getting ready to go on stage and there is a lot of noise around I use the Snark. I clip it to ...

I use a Seiko ST-1100. These days it's a bit old fashion but does well on the contrabasses down to the low G. For a low F the octave harmonic is more reliable but that note often sounds muddy, at least it does on my zithers. I've done ok with a clip-on Snark tuner but the Seiko is much better. Ken B...