Repair of Zither (Harp Mandolin) ??????

[Barry Daniels]

I would think the paired strings should be the same. That is what you see in pianos. But I know absolutely nothing about zithers.

[Jim McConkey]

The other thing about new strings is that it takes a while for them to stabilize under tension. They will keep going flat for a while, so you have to keep retuning. From the scale on the front, the two adjacent strings should be the same note, so C and C, not C and C#. Just go over it once a day for a while and bring every string back to its correct pitch.

Check out this video and some of the guy's other videos to get some ideas about playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPCGOHjBuNU

[Caley Hand]

I noticed they strings creep away from the note they are supposed to be. I have retuned it once already, but it is getting to the point where I am afraid to tighten some strings more, as I think they will snap. Maybe it is possible that these strings, being of modern make are not quite designed to tune to a particular note. I guess I need to find out what the string of a certain length is ideally suited for a particular note, and purchase replacement strings for those I feel are over tight right now.

Then again, maybe my tuning pins are starting to bottom out. I probably should check that before investing in more strings.

Jim, I have been watching Eitenne videos for a while. He is quite an accomplished player. I have learned from him about the chord and melody strings. Before his video, I didn't have a clue. My biggest problem is playing to places on the board at once. I guess that is familiarity with the instrument that allows proper playing.

But one of the problems is that some music is set for a particular chord, and my Zither does not have that one. The only thing I can think of doing is to use the closest one that my instrument has, and hope for the best.

Of course, I need to figure out just what chord goes with the piece I wish to play, and where. I still cannot read music, and even though I have tried to study things online, much of it confuses me because there are so many out there writing about a subject, and each person gives a different take on things. Maybe music is basically how the individual feels, and I am over analyzing things. But I do need to translate piano music so that I can play it on this instrument, and it has to be in letters, not the music graphs which are too small for me to read without a magnifying glass. I can learn where the strings are, but reading something made in micro print is beyond me.

Another thing that confuses me is that a piece of music will have little pauses here and there to break up things, but the breaks do not coincide with the ends of a row of music notes before they rpceed to the next row. They seem to break somewhere in the middle of a row of notes. I understand there is a rhythm to certain music, but it seems I cannot find where those breaks/pauses are.

I have a friend who teaches music at the local high school, so I guess I need to pay him some cash to hopefully teach me how these things work, as I don't seem to know how to figure it out. Guess I am just a music dummy. CaleyAnn

[Steve Sawyer]

Caley - what do you mean "creep away"? Do they increase or decrease in pitch? New strings tend to stretch a bit after first tuned. When I re-string one of my guitars it will tend to go flat and have to be tuned every time I play it for a couple of days. After that they seem to stabilize and will only go out of tune slightly, and usually in response to temp/humidity changes.

[Caley Hand]

Steve, it is my way of saying "out of tune". Told everyone that I have no previous music experience, so my way to talking about the subject will probably drive most people nuts. .

[Steve Sawyer]

Steve, it is my way of saying "out of tune". Told everyone that I have no previous music experience, so my way to talking about the subject will probably drive most people nuts. .

So I'm assuming then that the tuning goes flat - i.e. they become lower so you have to increase the tension to re-tune them. That is indeed what is to be expected from new strings as they stretch just a bit when first installed. You SHOULD find that after re-tuning (tightening) them a couple of times, they should pretty much stay in tune. Major changes in temperature or humidity will cause it to go out of tune a bit, but should not be so much as to require tuning more than occasionally.

[Caley Hand]

I finally got the Zither retuned. It's still not perfect, but it sounds better. I made a couple of recordings for your listening. Just strumming the chords, and the melody string pairs.

Please forgive my horrenndous attempt at strumming the strings. It's pretty difficult for me to hit just the two strings for C, then D, ETC. I missed a couple of times. CaleyAnn