The Halszither

**Dusepo** · Jul-07-2012, 1:53pm

I hope this is the right section. It's a cittern of the old variety, descended from the renaissance citterns, not the modern 5 course Irish bouzouki type of modern citterns.

I recently came across this wonderful instrument and have fallen in love with it. It's called a Halszither (neck cittern or neck zither in German) and it comes from Switzerland. It's a small guitar-shaped cittern but bigger than a mandolinetto, and with a shorter neck relative to the body. It has a scale length of between 36 and 40cm (14-16 inches). This puts it perfectly in mandolin and short mandola range. It is tuned G2, D3 D3, G3 G3, B3 B3, D4 D4, the same as a Waldzither (another branch on the cittern's family tree), but the temptation to change strings and tune it in fifths or modally is there

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Has anyone ever seen one of these in real life and (shot in the dark) does anyone know if there's anywhere I could buy one? I am planning to build one, but it's never gonna be as good as the real thing.

**Tavy** · Jul-08-2012, 10:58am

I've not had one of those, but I've had two waldzithers (still have one), both of which sound lovely. Longer scales than you're looking at though (43 and 50cm). I bet if you put a watch on ebay.ch and/or ebay.de for halszither they'll come up from time to time. The downside is that these old instruments tend to be fragile, and/or not so comfortable to play as the newer ones, so for example that 8th fret body join looks cramped to me

So personally I'd rather have a modern instrument with a 14th fret body join, 10 strings not 9, and maybe fan frets too

**Jim Garber** · Jul-08-2012, 11:23am

It looks like there is a variant with a teardrop-shaped body -- more cittern-like.

This swiss site has a list of makers, but no links for some reason.

it looks like the guitar versions are a more recent variant: instrument gallery

**Tavy** · Jul-09-2012, 7:37am

Originally Posted by Jim Garber

It looks like there is a variant with a teardrop-shaped body -- more cittern-like.

This swiss site has a list of makers, but no links for some reason.

it looks like the guitar versions are a more recent variant: instrument gallery

Got to love that instrument gallery, and much prefer the mojo of the early ones to the modern variations. Also interesting that the one Jim posted above has 10 tuners, but appears to have been modified(?) for 6 courses.

**Dusepo** · Jul-09-2012, 4:39pm

14 fret body join? Urgh, how very steel string guitar :p. I don't like the look or feel of an over-sized neck. I prefer a 12th fret join at the very most (like a classical guitar/uke) or even better the 10th (like many latin instruments) or the 7th-9th (like most mandos I've seen). Better balanced weight I think. I know it makes access to the higher frets harder, but the bigger body helps the sound, and if it's really a problem, you can always have a cutaway, although IMO that ruins the nice symmetry. To have a small body and a huge neck doesn't look right to me. Again, personal preference.

The single lower string is to get a different sound. It's a matter of preference, much like the neck size! You COULD have all double, for 10, but the lowest string (often played as a drone) wouldn't sound the same. It's much like some people leave the lowest string on a mandocello single, because it sounds better that way.

As for the more traditionally shaped Halszither, I believe it depends on the area from the research I have done.
The cittern/lute/mandolin shape is called a Toggenburger Halszither, and the guitar/ukulele/mandolinetto shape is called a Krienser Halszither .

**Tavy** · Jul-10-2012, 3:24am

Originally Posted by Dusepo

14 fret body join? Urgh, how very steel string guitar :p. I don't like the look or feel of an over-sized neck. I prefer a 12th fret join at the very most (like a classical guitar/uke) or even better the 10th (like many latin instruments) or the 7th-9th (like most mandos I've seen).

You must have been looking at the wrong mandos then

Bowlbacks typically have a 10th fret join, carved tops at 14 or 15.

I used to be not bothered about such things, but as my playing has improved so has my desire to reach the dusty end of the fretboard. Come to that if you play bluegrass style chop chords then decent neck access is essential too. IMO this gets more important for longer scale CBOM's where capos are more likely to be used - when I got it I thought the 14 full frets on my waldzither was enough for anyone, now I'm convinced they're that not and find the short neck rather cramped. BTW a 15th fret neck join does not imply a smaller body - just that the bridge moves towards the neck - coincidentally this also moves the bridge towards the centre of the top plate which can help the sound as well.

Just my 2c.... John.

**Dusepo** · Jul-10-2012, 3:35am

Originally Posted by Tavy

You must have been looking at the wrong mandos then

Obviously I have!

We have different tastes, I'm sure. As you said, the bowlbacks I've seen join at around the 10th, and both my flatback mandolin and tenor mandola join at the 7th. With the shape of the body on both, it acts like a cutaway, so this is not an issue. I am not a fan of the bluegrass F-style mandolins, which I think is what you are referring to? I like symmetry! :p