How the waldzither makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the waldzither belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
The waldzither (German: "forest zither") is a plucked string instrument from Germany. It is a type of cittern that has nine (sometimes ten) steel strings in five courses. Different types of waldzither come in different tunings, which are generally open tunings as usual in citterns. The most Common Tuning for the Waldzither is Open C (C3, G3, C4, E4, G4) which is the same tuning as a Banjeaurine (or a 5 string Banjo with a Capo on the 5th fret) except that the 5th string is 2 Octaves lower than on the Banjeaurine.
It is one of the few instruments to stick to Preston tuners, another being the Portuguese guitar.
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a waldzither sound like?
As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the waldzither?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.322).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q2542042 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Waldzither – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by No machine-readable author provided. Neitram assumed (based on copyright claims). – CC BY-SA 3.0