Replacement Feet

[Hobbyop]

Hello group, it's a beautiful start to the summer season and I'm trying to replace the feet on my Concert Zither. I currently have the sharp nail-point type of feet and would like to replace them with a non-destructive type. Does anyone have information where proper feet can be purchased (like a website or a link)? I contacted Anne Prinz already but the style she sells won't work for me. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

- Bruce

[Graham]

Try www.shellex.com

They are in Germany, but mail order to the UK was not a problem. They make real turned horn feet with a spike, and also metal ones with little rubber pads. Also various other zither parts.

Another option which works well for me is .... buy some draughts ( Google translate gives me "checkers" in American) pieces, preferably old ones made of turned box wood, make a small hole in the centre for the spikes, and then sit your zither on three of them. I do this with my dining room table, with the zither over the knife drawer at one end, and the sound fills the house!

[Hobbyop]

Thanks Graham! Wooden checkers! What a wonderfully simple idea! I'm going to try that first before buying replacement feet!

[Carmen]

Hi Bruce,
Zither Wünsche also offers Gummifüße on their website. I think they also ship to the US. (If not, let me know and I can try to buy them and get them shipped to you).
https://www.zitherbau-wuensche.de/zithe ... erzubehoer
Zitherfüße
Gummifüße 03,50 € Stk.

I have gummi/rubber pads to put underneath my Zither feet. I can try to take a picture tomorrow.
Sadly I am not able to find any to buy.

Have a nice day,
Carmen

[attila57]

Now that I'm more into the topic, I just wonder why the spikes were put into the ebony feet of the zither. OK, I know that they prevent slipping and probably facilitate effective trasmission of resonance to the table, but still... They can be very dangerous! In fact, they make the zither look like a secret deadly weapon or something. They always puncture the skin of my fingertips whenever I flip the instrument over to look at or clean its bottom. And what happens when someone wants to play the zither on his/her lap? Removes the feet every time?

I wonder what would happen if I ground the end of the spikes off a little to make them blunt, or at least less sharp, or if I ground them off altogether.

Putting three little concave wooden/bone discs (similar to the draughts mentioned in the post above), or rather little turned dishes, under the "de-spiked" feet would also be a great idea to protect the top of the table, because the steel core and the hard bone might still cause damage to more sensitive varnished or softwood tabletops. They would transmit the resonance well, although not as well as the spiked (or unspiked) ball feet. For more stability and protection (and less resonance transmission) a thin rubber pad could be glued to the underside of each disc. The concave, dish-like shape of the discs would be important to stabilize the "de-spiked" feet on them. This way, simply lifting the instrument off the discs, one could also play the instrument on his/her lap without the possibility of injury.

[Graham]

Draughts. I rest my case! I wouldn't put a rubber pad underneath though, as you do not want to deaden the transmission of the vibrations to the table top. Try very thin leather? The kind used on writing slopes and table tops.