Some ideas: Up near Dallas - https://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/for/d/antique-franz-schwarzer-32/6664289371.html While I was searching for my own four years ago, I learned that many "music instrument repair shops" have old zithers. As you're in central Texas, there are probably dozens of zi...

Answer this question - "What is the meaning of life?" OK, back to SOP. From those Zither.us articles, it sure sounds like the stringing used today was worked out over at least a century, from the "17 string old zither" of around 1800 to the ones used today. Weigel apparently was ...

Servus Rudi. Ab is the common way of writing "a flat", which (on equal tempered instruments) is the same sound as "g sharp". If you read this article about Weigel, you see how he tried to standardize zither tunings back in the second half of the nineteenth century. http://www.zit...

Like many of us, I first learned of the zither from the 1949 film The Third Man. Here's some interesting information - and a few surprises - about the making of that film. https://youtu.be/pLwfhDT6lYU Why are there so many scenes showing only Harry Lime's shadow on the walls? Orson Welles didn't arr...

Velocio - thank you! So you've been learning zither for only seven years. Bravo! And you're very lucky to have a real zither teacher! Were/are you traveling to Germany for your lessons? Could you tell us how exactly you started? did you use a "zither method" book? What exercises and exampl...

Good to hear you're not giving in. I'm continuing, but the metallic buzzing twangy sound is discouraging. I still have to "hunt" for each string - nothing comes naturally. You've made more progress in four months than I've made in four years. Four years ago a WW2 vet (US Navy) and friend o...

Pete: "I asked how you were progressing but did not hear from you."

Tom: Very slowly!

Pete - I'm afraid I'm lost again! You say "Rudi and Dave are right" - but Rudi and Dave never made any comments in this thread. I've been slugging away at zither for over four years now. You only started four months ago. Way too early to toss your zithers into the recycle bin! (Personally ...

Andy - that is fantastic! What a difference from the zither angle I've been using. I had no idea the zither angle could be at such an "offset" - almost 45 degrees. Mine has been closer to about 20 degrees. Also, I see you're sitting more centered to the zither than I do. I'd read in one of...

Thanks Ken. For us "beginners", determining a comfortable arm position is pretty much guesswork, as both arms are adjusted constantly when moving along the fingerboard and the accompaniment strings. I like your method of aligning the strings with the angle of the right hand thumb, but I'm ...