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Thread: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

  1. #1
    Registered User acharman's Avatar
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    Default New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    Just received an old Waldzither to add to my collection. Quite battle scarred but seems structurally sound. The case is "interesting" and has broken straps - it flaps out below the bottom bout so you drop it in (carefully) head first and the reverse to get it out. Strings are total madness at the moment. There's a mixture of old and newer ones on with a couple wound the wrong way and two courses strung in octaves which would mean a partial re-entrant tuning with the single course being higher than the lower of the fourth course. I have no idea what tuning the person who put the strings on was intending - maybe they just didn't know what they should be aiming for.

    I don't think I'll attempt to touch up or totally refinish it but I may change my mind. No visible maker's marks so probably a mass produced one from maybe early-mid 20th century.

    I will need to decide what tuning to string it for so I can order some in. I gave a quick try in open C (and also open C minor which seemed to make more sense to me) and it seemed to work ok if I ignored the sound of the octave stringing, particularly the low G, and open C (or D) is the tuning they were designed for. But it may also make sense having it in a fifths tuning and treating it as a short scale cittern. Scale length is about 415mm (16.5 ").

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  2. #2
    Likes quaint instruments poul hansen's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    If it's finished in shellac, you can easily freshen it up by cleaning it first, then brush alcohool on it with a cloth of flat paintbrush. It will dissolve the whitish scrathes. But don't rub, only brush ONE time. If you wan to repeat it, wait till it dries, atleast 2 or 3 hours.

    PS: I have a Böhm waldzither but it looks very different from yours.

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    Puglisi Pocket 1908........Puglisi 1912.......Puglisi 1917
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    1 Mandriola...................Cannelo G. Mandriola...Böhm Waldzither 1921
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    Marma Seashell back......Luigi Embergher 5bis 1909

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    Registered User acharman's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    [QUOTE=poul hansen;1922906]If it's finished in shellac, you can easily freshen it up by cleaning it first, then brush alcohool on it with a cloth of flat paintbrush. It will dissolve the whitish scrathes. But don't rub, only brush ONE time. If you wan to repeat it, wait till it dries, atleast 2 or 3 hours.

    PS: I have a Böhm waldzither but it looks very different from yours.

    Thanks. Yes, I wasn't thinking - just so used to instruments with poly or nitro finishes that can be tricky to do touch-ups. The Böhms are very different with their Preston tuners and glass bridge. Probably a much nicer instrument than this one.

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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    <two courses strung in octaves >

    This makes sense to me. My octave mandolin is strung with octave tuning on the lower two courses and unison tuning on the upper two - same principle as a 12-string guitar. Gives a lovely combination of punch and shimmer. I was thinking of doing the same with my waldzither, but it would need a new nut cut specifically for the different string thicknesses, so it won't happen any time soon.

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    Registered User acharman's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    Octave tuning can make sense and be very nice in some situations and may have worked here if they had put a full balanced set on. Apart from not knowing what tuning they were aiming for (if they had any purpose in mind and didn't just semi-randomly put strings on) the stringing is odd. My calipers are broken so I can't check the gauges and don't want to risk putting too much tension on an old instrument by guessing too much at tunings - certainly not balanced at open C and tension was getting too high (or too low the other end) to get it into fifths tuning. The two octave courses are strung in opposite directions - the fourth has low first then high and the third has high first then low. The fifth string is lighter than the low fourth and heavier than the low third. So a partial reentrant tuning would probably be it. There are two or three particularly old strings along with some newer ones and two strings are wound the wrong way. So it needs new strings regardless and I'll probably start with traditional open C tuning.

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    The fact that there is no name doesn't mean it's mass-produced. Most of these instruments were made by individual makers in small craft-based workshops in the town of Marktneukirchen in Saxony who sold them to big wholesalers. The wholesalers didn't want the invidudual shops to be identified on a label as they were sold interchangeably by type, not maker's name, in order to meet volumes. Some instruments have wholesalers' labels (e.g. Joh. Heinr. Zimmermann), some larger makers were able to control their own distribution and branding (e.g. Otwin), but most were simply unlabelled.

    Martin

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    Registered User acharman's Avatar
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    Default Re: New (to me) old instrument day - Waldzither

    Yes you’re right Martin. I was possibly deliberately underestimating it to make sure I didn’t give the impression it was a top quality instrument. For some reason I just got the impression that it might have been a student one or a lower level one but I really have no idea as it seems to have been well made. The shorter scale (420mm) may mean it was from the earlier part of the 20th century but no doubt some shorter scale ones were made later as well. The unusual case may be an additional indication to its age but I wouldn’t know.
    I am looking forward to getting some new strings on it so I can test it out properly. And then think about whether I want to do some restoration of the finish or leave it with all its battle scars.

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