Primzither

Alternate name(s)

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

Date1890-1920 ca.

Place MadeMittenwald, Bavaria, Germany, Europe

ModelSalzburg form

Serial No.none

SignedSoundhole label: blue rectangular paper label with decorative edges; double line gold border; within border centered on label in gold script printed: Neuner & Hornsteiner / in / MITTENWALD / in Oberbaiern; 2 circular medallions left of maker text, around border of first medallion in gold printed: EXPES UNIVERSELLE DE; around border of second medallion in gold printed: EMPEREUR NAPOLEAN III; 2 circular medallions on right of maker text, around border of first medallion in gold printed: FRIEDRICH WILHELM IV KOENIG VON PREUSSEN; around border of second medallion in gold printed: ERZEUGNISSE VOMJA [illegible]
Markingsnone
DescriptionStrings: 32 strings; 5 melody strings, 27 accompaniment strings
Body:
Top: spruce with rosewood veneer
Back: black-painted spruce
Sides: hardwood with rosewood veneer, grain running vertically
Edging: 5-ply maple and dark hardwood purfling around soundboard; single ply maple purfling around pin block; 3 ply maple and dark hardwood purfling bordering sides
Soundhole: circular soundhole centered on soundboard (105 mm diameter); 5 ply maple and thin dark hardwood purfling surrounding soundhole
Fretboard: black-stained pearwood fretboard with 30 silver nickel slot frets including zero fret; 2 mother-of-pearl dot position markings inlaid behind fifth and fifteenth frets; single mother-of-pearl dot position marking inlaid behind ninth and twelfth frets; eighteenth and twenty third frets half length; twenty fifth fret quarter length
Nut: black-stained pearwood nut with steel wire saddle; 5 steel guide pins behind zero fret
Bridge: black-painted pearwood with single steel wire saddle underneath accompaniment strings; 2 side by side steel wire saddles underneath melody strings; slots cut into hand rest where strings wrap over end of instrument and attach to hitchpins
Tuning Pins: 32 nickel-plated steel rectangular tuning pins
Table-top Rests: 3 ball-shaped bone rests with steel needle points
DimensionsBody: 502 mm long, 307 mm wide
Fretboard: 334 mm long, 54 mm wide
Melody string vibrating length: 392 mm
Highest chord string vibrating length: 397 mm
Lowest chord string vibrating length: 444 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number02234

On View

Not on view