Concert zither

Alternate name(s)

Alpine zither
Zither, Alpine, fretboard, accompaniment, bass, and sub-bass strings

Date1900-1920 ca.

Place MadeGermany, Europe

Place MadeUnited States, North America

ModelSalzburg form

Serial No.none

SignednoneMarkingsnoneDescriptionStrings: 32 strings; 5 melody strings, 27 accompaniment strings
Body:
Top: black-painted spruce
Back: black-painted spruce
Sides: black-painted hardwood
Edging: 3 gold and silver alternating lines painted around soundboard and pin block; 2 gold lines painted around sides
Soundhole: large oval soundhole; 2 gold and silver lines for inner border around soundhole; elaborately painted floral with foliage, wheat, and ribbon accents for outer border around soundhole
Fretboard: black-painted maple with 30 nickel silver frets including zero fret; 2 abalone with inlaid copper [or brass] dot position markings behind fifth, ninth, and twelfth frets; single abalone with inlaid copper [or brass] dot position marking behind seventeenth fret
Nut: black-painted maple with silver-plated copper wire saddle
Bridge: black-painted maple with silver-plated copper wire saddle
Decoration: finely painted silver and gold floral scroll pattern edging border of curvilinear side of soundboard; finely painted genre scene depicting 2 cranes in a marsh located between end of fretboard and bridge

Tuning Pins:
Chord strings: 27 polished steel tuning pins
Melody strings: 5 worm gear mechanism tuners with ivory heads; 5 decoratively turned nickel silver rollers; floral bouquet engraved on nickel silver cover plate

Table-top Rests: 3 ball-shaped bone rests with steel needle points
DimensionsBody: 595 mm long, 315 mm wide
Fretboard: 365 mm long, 55 mm wide
Melody string vibrating length: 435 mm
Highest chord string vibrating length: 445 mm
Lowest chord string vibrating length: 530 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number00047

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