Zither

Zither, any stringed instrument in which the strings run across a body or resonator, and that has no protruding arms or neck. By this definition, the zither family includes psalteries and hammered dulcimers, but the instruments most characteristically referred to as zithers are the fretted zithers of Europe. In south Germany and Austria, two highly developed varieties exist: the Salzburg zither, flat along its fretted side and curved out on the opposite side; and the less common Mittenwald zither, curved out on both sides. Both have a shallow, flat sound box with a round sound hole and, usually, five metal melody strings stretched along a fretted fingerboard. Beyond them are 17 to 40 accompaniment strings, generally of gut or nylon. The player's left-hand fingers stop the melody strings, which are plucked with a plectrum worn on the right thumb; the right-hand fingers pluck the accompaniment strings. Two common melody string tunings are c g d¹ a¹ a¹ and c g g¹ d¹ a¹ (g = G below middle C, g¹ = G above middle C); accompaniment-string tunings vary. These zithers are descended from the narrow, boxlike Scheitholt, similar to several north European zithers and to the Appalachian dulcimer of the United States. The Appalachian zither, also known as the mountain zither, is a three- or four-string fretted zither that was developed from the Pennsylvania German zitter. A few zithers, such as the Streichzither, are bowed, rather than plucked.

Non-Western zithers take many forms, including a trough or a hollow tube (many African zithers); a solid bar with gourd resonators at each end (the bin of North India); and a long, slightly curved board (the Chinese qin [ch'in] and zheng [cheng] and Japanese koto). See also Folk Music.