Thanks for your reply,Ken.My crowd settled in the Hudson Valley...I've never seen or heard of the instruments that were in use there...but that's a long time ago-1709.

That is so cool!I wonder if my Palatine German ancestors would have played it.A lot of things got lost in the sea crossing but maybe it was easier to replicate in the new world than the violin,etc.

Yes, Jeffrey.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hello was that Simple Gifts Ken?

Great job all around Ken... really appreciate you, your building and playing too.

Very nice!

Very nice building job Ken - and it sounds in tune too. So I guess this was a precursor to the dulcimer as we know it?

Thank you, Jennifer. I still tune in on Friday nights as long I can stay awake. You folks are doing a great job out there.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hello there my friend!  This is soooo cool!

Anytime we meet and I have it with me you are welcome to play it Robin.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Wow, would I love to strum that critter you built, Ken!  

Lisa, I thought I had posted photos of this zitter, but I did not. I just posted three photos. I have more if anyone is interested.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken i ADORE this!!

Your zitter has a marvelous hollow 'old' tone, like a bell. The instrument in the museum is now reborn to sing again in a whole new life.  It's a wonderful precious thing you made!

Did you post photos of it?  I wish you had held it up to the camera on all sides a bit in the video, to let us see it 'in the round'.

Terrific job!!!!

Yes, Jeff, that was simple gifts.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Nice Job on that Zither Ken was that Simple Gifts

Not bad at all, Ken. Like the sound of it.

Way to go, Ken.  Sounds good

When visiting the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum to photograph, trace, and measure the Pennsylvania German zitters in their collection that are in L. Allen Smith's A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers, I was told that they had another one in the collection. I photographed, measured, and traced that one as well. This is the zitter I made based on that prototype. Both the playing and the video are a little rough, but I hope you will get a sense of how these instruments sound. This is not the zitter which I hold in my avatar. That one is a copy of one in the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA.