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Thread: Waldzither string guages

  1. #1

    Default Waldzither string guages

    I just bought my second cittern on eBay, a German Thuringia Waldzither. It should arrive nexzt week. It guitar tuners, not watch key tuners, so I won't need a tuning key.

    I'd like to tune it to GDADG or GDADA, i e octave mandolin tuning plus an extra high string. The lowest course will be a single string since it has nine strings, but that's okay.

    I'm looking for advice on what string gauges to use for this tuning. I don't know the scale length yet, I'm guessing between 17 and 18.5 inches which seems typical. I've read a lot of different threads on this site and the session, there are a lot of different opinions out there.

  2. #2
    '`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`' Jacob's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waldzither string guages


  3. #3

    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    Thanks for the link Jacob, that provides some interesting insights. Standard Waldzither tuning is CGCEG, which is not what I want to use, so I won't be able to use those strings particularly, but it should give me some idea of the gauges I need for the top for strings of my GDADG tuning.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    I just found this site. Very useful. I'd still like to hear from people who have experience doing this themselves.

    http://www.mandolinluthier.com/waldzither_tuning.htm

  5. #5
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    I have two waldzithers, a 9-string and a 10-string. The 9-string has a slightly longer scale and I tune it GDAEA most of the time, but sometimes retune to FCGDA or GDAEB -- no restringing required. String gauges depend on scale, which can vary a lot on waldzithers. The general rule of thumb is to use standard mandola strings for the double courses and add a heavy-gauge guitar E string for the single bass string. Unless you have one of the longer-scaled examples, the low G string is likely to be pretty weak. Useful to have for chords sometimes, but not much help for single-note work.

    Good luck!

    Martin

  6. #6

    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    Thanks Martin, that sounds like sound advice. Comparing the gauges of a set of D'Addario Mandola strings with the gauges listed in the link I posted before, I find that there is quite a bit of similarity. I don't know the scale length yet, I asked the seller if he could measure the scale length after I bought it but by the time he got the message he'd already boxed it up. He did give me the overall dimensions of the instrument: 33” X 14” X 6 inches. Bigger than I expected! Judging by that I'm guessing the scale length will be between 18 and 19.5 inches, but I really have no idea. I'll know when it arrives next week. Now I'm in for a week of that uneasy feeling you get when your precious musical instrument is in the less than delicate hands of The United States Postal Service. Let's hope it arrives unscathed.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    The waldzither came today. I strung it up with octave mandolin strings, which are a little lighter than mandola strings, and it sounds pretty dang good! I had to put a shim under the bridge because it was so low the strings were rattling against the frets. I'll have to play around with different thicknesses of shim before I get the right action. There is some minor structural damage but nothing to serious. For the most part I'm happy with my new instrument.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    Following Dave Hynds advice, I tuned mine GDAEB.
    D’addario mandolin strings EJ73 for the DAEB + a single guitar string of E - 050 for the low G.
    Sounds very nice. EJ62 should be nice too but I did not compared them yet. 😉

  9. #9
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    In order to restring and retune safely, you need to know the overall tensions of a standard string set at standard tuning for which the instrument was designed. From that you can calculate which string gauges will give you those same (or near) tensions in the tuning you want to change to. How was it originally tuned? What string gauges came on it? You will also need an accurate measurement of its string length (measure from the front of the nut to the front of the bridge, basically the vibrating length of the strings. If the bridge is angled take the measurement from the middle of the bridge (you can also measure from the front of the nut to the 12th and multiply x 2).

  10. #10
    Oscar Stern s11141827's Avatar
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    Default Re: Waldzither string guages

    Optima makes great strings for it that can be tuned any way you want, for the 10 string version you need to add on an additional single low string that matches what's in the set.

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