Zither group forming in Cincinnati!
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:21 pm
It all started with my wanting some variety in the accompaniment for the Kolping Saengerchor, here in Cincinnati. I bought a zither on ebay, and started watching YouTube to see how it's played. Well, the advice about not buying a zither without a tuning device is good: my zither #1 has oblong tuning pins and did not come with a wrench, and I would appreciate any leads/sources of a solution. I bought an "adjustable" T-shaped tuner, designed for use on antique harp pins, but the "drill-bit" chuck is too big to fit between the pins, and also grips too tightly to remove without un-tuning at the same time! (I did follow the directions for "backing off" the tightness, but it's always on the borderline of too loose or too tight!)
My zither #2 is on loan from a friend whose father played the zither for the Backerei-Verein here in Cincinnati. It works, and tunes, just fine, but I really needed a zither of my own. I bought #3 on Craigslist: made by Rudolph K. Haselwanter, Mittenwald, Ober-Bayern, for Prof. S. J. Osswald, Teacher of Music. (5 fretboard, and 32 accompaniment strings.) It is beautiful, and tunes easily, but I have encountered another problem: I am "assuming" that it uses Munich tuning, in that it has two A strings, but it arrived missing a D and G string, so it's a guess that it has never been Vienna-tuned. It is also missing the first two accompaniment strings, and the third string is a substantial wound copper string that I don't expect would tune to F alt. And some of the other strings also don't look as they should. (I'm a violinist by profession.) I can see where, with the large number of strings on a zither, that one could be tempted to replace a string with something "close" to what is called for. I have purchased a complete set of replacement strings, but what's on now are not at all in poor condition. Any suggestions?
Our zither club has only met once, and I'm the one with the most answers! And I'm a real novice! But we're tuned, and are all accomplished pianists and can play by ear. We've examined printed zither music, practiced scales, and compared table heights and hand positions. We've yet to put it all together smoothly, but are having fun with a beautiful new sound, for us, that once had many Cincinnati practitioners! Don in Cincinnati
My zither #2 is on loan from a friend whose father played the zither for the Backerei-Verein here in Cincinnati. It works, and tunes, just fine, but I really needed a zither of my own. I bought #3 on Craigslist: made by Rudolph K. Haselwanter, Mittenwald, Ober-Bayern, for Prof. S. J. Osswald, Teacher of Music. (5 fretboard, and 32 accompaniment strings.) It is beautiful, and tunes easily, but I have encountered another problem: I am "assuming" that it uses Munich tuning, in that it has two A strings, but it arrived missing a D and G string, so it's a guess that it has never been Vienna-tuned. It is also missing the first two accompaniment strings, and the third string is a substantial wound copper string that I don't expect would tune to F alt. And some of the other strings also don't look as they should. (I'm a violinist by profession.) I can see where, with the large number of strings on a zither, that one could be tempted to replace a string with something "close" to what is called for. I have purchased a complete set of replacement strings, but what's on now are not at all in poor condition. Any suggestions?
Our zither club has only met once, and I'm the one with the most answers! And I'm a real novice! But we're tuned, and are all accomplished pianists and can play by ear. We've examined printed zither music, practiced scales, and compared table heights and hand positions. We've yet to put it all together smoothly, but are having fun with a beautiful new sound, for us, that once had many Cincinnati practitioners! Don in Cincinnati