Name of Instrument: zither

Maker / Brand:

Stearns Catalog #: 1711

Country of Origin: Germany

Region of Origin: Europe

Instrument Category: Chordophone

Date of Fabrication: mid-19th C.

Location: CHO R 2

Description: This German Zither is likely the finest mid-19th Century zither in the Stearns Collection; it is almost identical to instrument #93-646 held by the Smithsonian Institute. The table has a two-piece rosewood veneer over spruce; the edges and circular sound hole feature maple purfling. The sides are rosewood veneer on maple; the back is made of two pieces of black-stained spruce. Three ivory buttons level the instrument when it is laid on a flat surface. The peg board is black-painted and has two rows of nickel-silver wrest pins entering from the front. Peg handles are ivory and enter from the sides; gears are concealed under a nickel-silver engraved plate. The flat, ebony fingerboard has twenty-nine inlaid nickel-silver frets; pearl dots mark several frets. There are thirty strings of wire and wound-silk-on-wire-core that attach to machine pegs, cross the fingerboard, and attach to nails on the lower side.

Research: Dr. Bruce Mitchell Smith