Charlie Schultz's Concert zither [Pictures] - created 06-12-2011

Schultz, Charlie - 06/12/2011.15:27:34
Atlanta

A concert zither based on GAL plan #41. Back & sides are jatoba, top is cherry veneer on spruce. Fretboard is BRW and bridges are ebony.

And the back.

WOW!! No in-progress shots?

Impressive, Charlie! The "fretboard" on the left demands some explanation. How do you play this thing?

Nice!!

Do we get closer pictures and some explanation?

Well, sorry Deb, I'm kind of bad with in-progress shots. I'll add some close ups though. As for how you play the thing, well, I suggest searching YouTube for the "zither tutorial" by Lotte Landl. I also meant to say that the fretboard and ebony were from an auction package (Louie Atienza)- the piece of BRW was just the right size for this.

VERY pretty!

The video does explain a lot. The instrument is played laying flat with the "fretboard" closest the player, sort of like a mountain dulcimer with an extra section of sympathetic/chordal strings, not vertically, as an autoharp is normally played.

A few more pictures. Here's the tuner end for the melody strings. Had to get this from Germany and it was not cheap (but it is nicely engraved). No doubt other instrument tuners could be made to work here. Note the use of bar frets.

A shot of the top. Note my technique for stringing *before* thinking about a label. The rosette is some pearl (IIRC, another auction item I won a while back). Again, curly cherry veneer on top of spruce. Looks pretty and I guess the spruce/veneer thing is traditional, but if I do another, I may just skip the top veneer. BTW, the finish is FP'd shellac.

Another shot of the fretboard. Had trouble getting the fret slots wide enough for the bar stock as I did not have a fret saw with that wide a kerf. I used epoxy to ensure the frets stay in, maybe that was overkill.

One more of the tuning end. The veneer top is of course quite thin. The spruce ranges from about 1/4" to 1/8" over the the bottom surface of the top (i.e., the top is selectively thinned). The end bits where the tuners and hitchpins go are hard maple. Overall thickness is about 1.25". Any suggestions for improvements are welcome.

That looks really well done.

Is it easy to play?

Where did you get the bar stock material?

Thanks Steve. I haven't really played it yet- the strings are still stretching and I'm waiting for a "thumb ring" I've ordered. I do have a couple beginners zither books though.

I got the bar fret stock from LMI.

I didn't realize it was available through LMII.