Peter T, thanx for the zither site! -- I expect to waste a lot of time there....Banjo Johnnie, under "history" there's a good, somewhat long definition of a zither at the above site.
There's also a picture of my zither on the Web, it's in the links but I'll have to ask Bill D how one gets there.
harpgirl, I went to Peter's link on stringing zithers but didn't think it was terribly useful. So, I'll give you a kind of core dump or overview of what little I know.
First off, there are concert zithers and there are guitar zithers and mine says it's a concert-guitar zither which is a fib.
On a concert zither, unless I've got this backwards, you have a fretboard similar to a guitar neck. Then you have a bunch of strings which I believe are for accompaniment and may be arranged in chords but here my ignorance shows.
On a guitar zither, you have, as you can see, several sets of chords on the left or bottom of the instrument and a set of about 2 octaves of melody strings on the right or top end. (I play it sideways, which puts the chords at the bottom end closest to me.)
The bad news: The number of chords, their arrangement, the type of melody strings and their tuning *varies from instrument to instrument.* For example, a lot of zithers are not chromatic. On some, the melody strings are so close I can't imagine ever playing them although lots of people have managed it. There are different numbers of chords on different instruments.
The good news: Your zither sounds like it's laid out very much like mine, and mine has all the notes labeled. So I can send you a nice detailed digital pic of each set of strings if you want.
The other good news: Lark in the Morning sells zither strings and may be able to tell you how to tune your zither if you describe your string arrangement and the number of strings.
Here are links to more web sites and a photo of my zither. Pardon my lack of HTML savvy. Please cut and paste unless the wonderful Mr. Offer notices them and changes them to real clicky things.
1. Here's a picture of my zither in the gorgeous case Bill D made. This was made with a borrowed camera; we need to re-shoot it. I can do a hi-res pic and e-mail it. If anyone reading this would like one, please PM me your e-mail address. Pic is at: http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/abba/690/zither.html
2. The Guitar-Zither Clearinghouse
http://users.supernet.com/williams/gz_home.htm (dead link)
3. Lark in the Morning Instrument Strings
http://www.mhs.mendocino.k12.ca.us/MenComNet/Business/Retail/Larknet/InstStrings4. How to Play a Zither
http://users.supernet.com/williams/play.htm (dead link)
5. Violinmaker etc. This site has the following ad: "German Guitar Zither. VG/Ex. Condition with OHSC. New today $1,500. Our price on this one is reduced to $550. Born with extra fingers? This is the instrument for you!!"
http://www.kdavisviolins.com/accessories.html
6. Not a site, but an address. I think it's also on the site Peter T posted.
ZITHER NEWSLETTER 6173 N. McLellan, Chicago, IL 60646 (Quarterly, $8) A publication devoted to the Alpine concert zither. They also have zither strings, cassettes and CDs and instruction videos.
Enough for now? I hope so, because I'm not sure I know anything else. Oh. I will be playing mine at the FSGW Getaway, weather and the old instrument permitting.