Oscar Schmidt 5/25

When eBay offered up this old chromatic Zither (chromatic = melody strings for all the piano keys, both black and white, in its two-octave range, rather than just the white-key-counterparts of diatonic Zithers), I had my doubts: rusty pins and crazing of the varnish both suggested moisture damage, which suggested the glued joints might pop apart when tension was put on the strings to bring the Zither into tune. Furthermore, it had enough additional cosmetic damage that it wasn't much of a display piece. And to be honest, the Oscar Schmidt Zithers just aren't that appealling, especially compared to their German counterparts.

The biggest disadvantage for me is that the melody strings are a quarter inch apart (in contrast to the one-third inch of the Germans, and about one-half inch of most of the Zithers I have played and have shown here previously) which means they are harder to play, and it is harder to read the music sheets, which in the case of German sheets such as this example, have to be reduced-size copies. Others might find it a problem that there are only 5 chord groups, rather than the six that is standard in German model 3½ Zithers (this is a standard designation used by many German, and even American, manufacturers; I don't know if the American 3½ Zithers are dimensionally compatible with the Germans or are smaller like the OS shown here). But I haven't been using the chord groups at all, so for me, less is better.

Besides, the music sheets may call for 6 chord groups, but most of the sheets allow positioning for either of two major keys, only one of which will use the sixth chord. (Chord groups tend to be in consistant order in various Zithers, and consitantly numbered from right to left, so chords one through three of a siz chord Zither correspond in value and numbering to the three chords of a three chord Zither.) That also brings up one of the niftiest advantages of the full-chromatic instruments: simply by aligning the "Unterlegnoten" differently, one can use the same sheet to play the tune in any of several different keys. Can't do that on a diatonic Zither!

This Zither arrived late Friday afternoon, and over the next few days I gave it a chance for acclimatization and recovery from whatever temperature/humidity/air-pressure abuses it had gotten in transit, and I began bringing it into tune. Yesterday it finally was sounding something like what was intended, and this morning it indeed hadn't lost significant pitch overnight. The sound box was finally more or less stabilized in playable condition.

And boy is it loud! Just amazing. Now, that may be somewhat exagerated as I have to hover over the strings trying to read the miniscule notes and pluck the right strings, but there is no doubt that it is louder than anything else I have played, as well having a resonance that is richer and more sustained. I think it will take some time and practice to become more at ease with its difficulties, but I think it will be worth it.

Nice Pluck Play.