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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Amra responded to somebody:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> Yes, the instrument I was playing is
called a bowed psaltery.<BR>>> I got in from Unicorn Strings:<BR>>>
</FONT><A href="http://unicornstrings.com/"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://unicornstrin<WBR>gs.com/</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>></FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> According to further
research I and others have done, it is not in </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> fact a bowed psaltery, which was
'invented' in the 1930's, and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> has an arched bridge like a violin,
but a bowed zither.<BR>>> As such it is a period instrument, played with
one bow, it is</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> played in a period
manner.<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=203015412-17092007>> Just in case anyone may still be interested in the
"bowed</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=203015412-17092007>> psaltery" -- howzabout the pre-1600 variation
(Mstr. Robin,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=203015412-17092007>> I don't recall -- did yours have the arched
bridge or a flat bridge?)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=203015412-17092007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=203015412-17092007>First, please remember that I am no music expert.
These are amateur research results.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>No, my bowed psaltery from Unicorn Strings, like
every other bowed psaltery from Unicorn Strings, is a bowed psaltery, not a
zither. For one thing, it has no frets. The first bowed, fretless
zithers were made, I read, in Jersey City and Boston. FretlessZither.com
states that fretless zithers comprise "a distinct body of pin-tuned
stringed instruments of 19th and 20th century American invention and
manufacture."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But more importantly for this discussion, the bowed
zither (streichzither) was invented in Germany in the 19th century.
While older than the bowed psaltery, it isn't a period instrument either,
according to more than one source.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have found instruments called "bowed zithers"
that look like psalteries, but none made before 1930.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Every music expert I showed my Unicorn Strings
bowed psaltery to said the same thing -- it's a modern instrument.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As I said, I'm no expert and will bow to any clear
research, but until somebody shows evidence of a bowed fretless instrument
stringed like a keyboard before 1601, all indications are that no such
instrument existed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robin of Gilwell / Jay
Rudin</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>