Primzither

Alternate name(s)

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

Date1890-1910 ca.

Place MadeGermany, Europe

ModelSalzburg form

Serial No.none

SignedSoundhole label: noneDescriptionStrings: 28 metal strings; 24 accompaniment strings, 4 melody strings
Body:
Top: maple stained in imitation of rosewood
Back: black-painted spruce
Sides: maple stained in imitation of rosewood
Edging: varnished maple binding bordering curvilinear side of soundboard
Soundhole: circular soundhole centered on soundboard; no edging or decoration
Fretboard: brown-varnished pearwood; 27 brass slot frets including zero fret; single bone dot position marking behind fifth, ninth, twelfth, and seventeenth frets; eighteenth and twentieth frets half length; twentieth and twenty fourth frets missing
Nut: black-painted hardwood with brass wire saddle
Bridge: black-painted pearwood with brass wire saddle; saddle extends underneath accompaniment and melody strings; slots cut into hand rest where strings wrap over end of instrument and attach to hitchpins
Tuning Pins: 28 flat rectangular iron tuning pins
Table-top Rests: missing
DimensionsFretboard: 332 mm long, 40 mm wide
Body: 490 mm long, 302 mm wide
Melody string vibrating length: 389 mm
Highest chord string vibrating length: 389 mm
Lowest chord string vibrating length: 432 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number03839

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