It's not a guitar

[EricDownunder]

I have this zither my in-laws had lying around for years, thought i would share it with fellow luthiers.
Hand made in Germany early 1900's I think family records date it around then.
not sure what the top back and sides are maybe you guys could give me some idea, hand carved ebony,
Ivory tuners, ivory and ebony binding, engraved silver headstock and most obvious beautiful mother of pearl inlay's.
The warp in the main body could be a problem!

[nnickusa]

Cool instrument, but you may want to tighten a few strings before you play it....

Seriously, unless the warping of the top is under the fretboard, I can't imagine it would hurt too much unless the scale is changed, but even then the strings look to be tuned to pitch(?)

Neat old thing and worth stringing up and having a go, I reckon....

[charangohabsburg]

That's a very nice specimen of a zither you have there!

I have a similar one, not so nice but a bit older (very late 1800's), and it is in a very bad shape.

The tops of these zithers were normally made of very thin rosewood veneer (about 1mm) over spruce, typically about 6mm thick in total (think of a piano, not a guitar). The backs are generally quite a bit thinner and in the case of mine only spruce, painted black.

The main problem of my zither are all ebony parts which just start to crumble away when trying to do something. I haven't yet found the time to restore it , and I am not sure If I ever will find that time.