From conversation recently with a fellow Zither player regarding tonal quality from the fret board strings, a suggestion was made to replace the strings in order to hear a brighter tone. My question to the Zither Community is, how often do you replace strings (fret or accompaniment); or do you replace them only when they snap in a break? Just curious.

My approach is to replace zither strings on an as needed basis -- when they break, begin to fray, or if the tone quality is poor.  On average, I'm practicing an hour an evening and will replace at least one string every few months. Oddly enough, roughly half of the open strings that I've replaced have given out while the instrument was resting in its case. Most often though, the d' and a' fretboard strings break while I'm playing and what a minor surprise that always is.

I bought GHS "Fast Fret" at the Guitar Center. I use it when the strings start to sound dull. It's a quick cleaning mechanism that seems to keep me from having to buy new strings too often (though it's time!). Making the $100-$200 investment for a new set is the tough part of playing this instrument.Maybe other players in this forum have different cleaners they use?