Waldzither back from the dead...

[Tavy]

Just finished this one off, Pluckthum waldzither in a sorry state:



After a "minimal" refinish with satin EnduroVar plus the usual fretboard and machine head work it's now like this:



Got to love a waldzither!

[Jim Garber]

Nice work, as always, John. Do you have a way to twist a loop into the other end for the Preston tuners?

[Ausdoerrt]

I swear I gotta get one of these someday.

[Tavy]

Nice work, as always, John. Do you have a way to twist a loop into the other end for the Preston tuners?

I have a video for that too

[ollaimh]

There are. PRO string winders, but for a decade or more I did it with a nail and a pair of players.

I just bought another waldzither off eBay. An old deluxe that needs some work but under 200 bucks and brazillian rosewood back and sides.

[ollaimh]

What's that tune? Nice tone.

[Tavy]

What's that tune? Nice tone.

Planxty Hewlet.

[ollaimh]

i am looking for waldzither strings. i usually cobble together strings from other sets, but does anyone know of a string seller who makes waldzither strings?

[Martin Jonas]

Depends on your tuning. You can buy waldzither string sets from Schneider Musik, made by Lenzner, Pyramid, Optima and Romana. Each of these four makers have sets either with double loops for the Boehm-type Hamburg waldzithers with Preston tuners, or single-loop for conventional headstocks (Thuringian style). Optima and Lenzner will make them to the precise length you specify when ordering, whereas Pyramid and Romana have a fixed string length of 67cm and 65cm, respectively. However, all of them are intended for open C tuning (CGCEG) so if you have yours set up as mandola or OM, you may need to make your own.

I'm glad that my waldzither take single loop strings, so custom sets are pretty straightforward without having to wind my own or fretting about precise string lengths.

Martin

[ollaimh]

thanks