Well, Helen, your post about tuning multiple strings got my attention! My strung zither is called a "guitar" zither, I guess because it has six sets of strings arranged in chords. [The unstrung one is a "concert" zither and has a fretboard, but I may have it backwards on the names.]

Anyway the guitar zither has 51 strings. It is old. It is built of not-very-hard hardwood. And it is super sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. And a tiny turn with the tuning wrench makes a big difference in the pitch. And the bass strings are very difficult to hear, until you try to play a chord at which time it becomes very clear that they're out of tune. .... Nuff said. But I'm going to say more anyway....

I once led a workshop in late January and happened to be scheduled in a room with a double door to the outside. Have you heard the one about how long does a harp stay in tune? (Twenty minutes, or until someone opens a door....) Well that workshop was agony. People were coming in and out and letting in the freezing air. I didn't get through a single song without the zither losing its tuning sometime during the song.

The good news is that since Bill got our central air about 70 percent fixed (100 percent is way too much to hope for in this house), the zither has behaved much better. It likes air conditioning, hates heat and humidity. In hot or very cold weather (when the heating system takes over), I have to tune it a half step low or the back starts to bow. But in spring and fall, and now in summer as long as I don't take it for a ride in a not-well-airconditioned car, it comes up to pitch by itself!

The concert zither may be older yet. One reason I haven't tried to string it, it that the tuning pegs are not all the same size and shape! -- It's going to be a real challenge to find a workable tuning wrench.

With all that, I should add that the guitar zither has a rich, mellow sound sort of like a full string orchestra, and it is worth every bit of aggravation that it causes me. - Rita Ferrara