Hallo again
This instrument looks indeed like an ancestor or old edition of a Toggenburger Cittern. The swiss instrument is tuned C GGG ccc eee ggg until now. The string tension is very low, very soft and the triple strings are easily played with fingertips because they are so narrow together. The "third" string is placed just between the "normal two". I will send the pictures to my contact in Switzerland, Urs Klauser, the owner of the attached re-built instrument. Perhaps there will be some new answer there. The Thuringer Waldzither had 13 to 14 strings, too, but the oldest pictures I have (from the early 19th century) do not resemble the Edinburgh instrument much. The two instruments are from Georg Nikolaus K=F6llmer, the pictures are from the exhibition "Thuringer Zithern aus drei Jahrhunderten" in Suhl, Thuringia, Germany in 2003. with regards Martina 18.4.05 Hallo, strangely i didn't receive my own letter for the cittern net yesterday.Did You? I have answer from my swiss contact and he too claims this instrument to be a Toggenburger, mainly but with a few unanswered questions. The tailpiece is not typical, that could mean that it is older than 19th century. The german link for Toggenburger instruments is http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MUSEUM/zist_togg_hals.htm greetings Martina To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
