I wanted to bump this thread because I have that exact instrument, except mine has no decorations. I found it in a Pittsburgh Guitar Center of all places. There were a couple of articles about them in Dulcimer Players News a couple of years ago. The one the article was acquired originally in a folk music shop in NYC circa 1970’s. The strings on mine were original and very corroded so I replaced them all. It was tuned like a DAD dulcimer, more or less, when I got it, but using a caliper to figure out gauges, plus some research and a little math, told me this particular instrument was supposed to be in G (all Gs and D’s). The citera comes in different sizes and tunings, but on this size G works well.
I wanted Ted to add that some of my pins were loose and would not hold tune. I removed them and discovered that although they look like zither pins, they are not! They are larger (zither pin wrench will not fit) and they are smooth, no thread! I made the worn holes smaller with the old super glue trick, and they are holding fine now. But they are true friction pins. It is good to remember that. Mine came with the correct size wrench, thank goodness. I understand Dave’s comment about not enough leverage. The previous owner solved that problem by sticking too small metal handle of the tuning wrench into the top of a standard wooden file handle. Works like a charm.
