Zither

Zither is the name of both a class of musical stringed instruments, and of certain particular instruments within that class. The word zither is a German rendering of the Latin word cithara, from which the modern word guitar is also derived. Historically it has been used to describe any instrument of the cittern family, or an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body – similar to a psaltery. This article describes the second variety. Zithers are played by strumming or plucking the strings, either with the fingers, or sounding the strings with a bow. Varieties of the instrument like the santur or cimbalom are sounded by beating the strings with specially shaped hammers. Like a guitar or lute, a zither's body serves as a sound box, but unlike them and due to the manner of playing, a zither has no need for a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty. Modern common use refers to three specific instruments: the concert zither, its variant the Alpine zither, and the chord zither.