The scheitholt is a historic German fretted zither: a narrow wooden instrument with strings stretched along the length of its body, some used for melody and others left to sound as drones. It sits inside the wider zither family[1], but it should not be confused with the later concert zither, the Appalachian dulcimer, or the…
The gusli is a Slavic plucked zither[1]: a string instrument whose strings lie across a wooden body rather than running along a neck. In organological language, it is a chordophone[2], but the zither label is more useful for understanding how it works. The player does not stop strings against a fingerboard like a violin or…
The kantele is a Finnish and Karelian plucked zither[1] with a clear identity of its own: strings run across a wooden body, each string gives a set pitch, and the player shapes melody, chord, and ringing sustain directly with the fingers. It belongs to the wider chordophone[2] family and, more narrowly, to the Baltic psaltery[3]…
A concert zither[1] is a European table zither with two working areas: a fretted melody side and a larger field of unstopped strings for harmony, bass, and color. Its left-hand fretboard[2] makes it different from many other zithers, yet its strings still run across the body rather than along a separate neck. The word zither[3]…