Primzither

Alternate name(s)

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

Date1900 ca.

Place MadeGermany, Europe

Place MadeAustria, Europe

ModelSalzburg form

Serial No.none

Signednone MarkingsnoneDescriptionStrings: 30 strings; 25 accompaniment strings, 5 melody strings
Body:
Top: black-painted maple with veneer painted in imitation of rosewood
Back: black-painted spruce
Sides: black-painted maple
Edging: 4-ply alternating varnished maple and dark-stained pearwood purfling with black-painted pearwood binding
Soundhole: circular soundhole centered on soundboard; 4-ply alternating varnished maple and dark-stained pearwood purfling with black-painted pearwood binding
Fretboard: black-painted maple; 30 nickel silver frets including zero fret; eighteenth fret half length; twenty third and twenty fifth frets quarter length; 2 mother-of-pearl dot position markings located behind fifth, ninth, and twelfth frets; single mother-of-pearl dot position marking behind fifteenth fret
Nut: black-painted maple; no saddle, 30 steel guide pins for melody strings and accompaniment strings
Bridge: stained mahogany with steel wire saddle; slots cut into hand rest where strings wrap over end of instrument and attach to hitchpins
Tuning Pins: 30 blued steel rectangular tuning pin
Table-top Rests:
3 ball-shaped, black-stained pearwood rests with steel points (1 unfinished softwood replacement rest with no steel point)
DimensionsBody: 493 mm long, 310 mm wide
Fretboard: 330 mm long, 57 mm wide
Melody string vibrating length: 390 mm
Highest chord string vibrating length: 388 mm
Lowest chord string vibrating length: 430 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number02227

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