c.1900 Deep-body 12-fret flatback & c.1930 Waldzither

[Jake Wildwood]

Two cool fun ones just finished up. The mandolin is killer in that folky, loud, warm and sweet way. The w-z is just fun in general, especially coming from a hybrid banjo/mandolin perspective.

Here's the first, with Brazilian:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Oo2ah0P5xog/T7cvnRRsStI/AAAAAAAAWzs/rzeUdxOx1sQ/s1600/mand1.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tu1oH-AblLk/T7cvKGRJpFI/AAAAAAAAWx0/yOvy_akrYo4/s1600/mand11.jpg

Click here to check out the full blog pot on that one! (http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2012/05/c1900-unmarked-12-fret-rosewood.html)

And here's the second, in maple:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k8AGWRjpKDA/T7cqusR9_QI/AAAAAAAAWwQ/RoMYonxLQok/s1600/wald1.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--2nZZEx9zGY/T7cqbFLT0kI/AAAAAAAAWuk/MHI9KhYughA/s1600/wald10.jpg

Ah, yes, click here to check out THAT one's blog post! (http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2012/05/c1930-german-unmarked-waldzither.html)

[Tavy]

Nice ones Jake - if your waldzither sounds anything like mine (which is pretty similar to yours in many ways) it should be a great instrument.

Here's my Pluckthum for comparison:

8660386604

Just curious, what's the scale length on yours (mines 50cm which makes it a nice OM), and are your frets in the right places? I've had two waldzithers now - from different makers - but both had pretty screwy fret spacings making it hard to play in tune right up the neck. I've always suspected that someone (Boem?) got the spacing wrong, and everyone else just copied :(

[billkilpatrick]

love that pear-shape body - unusual crack on the soundboard

[billhay4]

Jake, you're amazing. Where do you find this stuff?
Bill

[Jake Wildwood]

Tavy: Intonation seems fine though a touch of warp in the first 5 frets makes it slightly less than perfect, scale is 17" so it's no good as an OM, really, but fine for regular or mandola-ish tuning. It has a nice sound with great sustain (typical of German make) but not a lot of bottom end.

Bill: Those are scratches that you can see -- the two cracks on the top are with-grain and harder to see not in person.

Bill#2: Thanks!!! I hunt, hunt, hunt. :)