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Antique (1800s) German Georg Tiefenbrunner Zither Harp Guitar With Fitted Case For Sale


Antique (1800s) German Georg Tiefenbrunner Zither Harp Guitar With Fitted Case
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Antique (1800s) German Georg Tiefenbrunner Zither Harp Guitar With Fitted Case:
$51.77

This is aGeorg Tiefenbrunner guitar style zither from the late 1800s and it is in good shape. There is a stable hairline crack that runs the length of the back, 5 strings are missing and there is some damage to the edge of the fretboard and the bottom string grooves(see pics). It bears the original label visible through the oval soundhole. The soundhole is beautifully decorated with binding and inlay purfling. There are five melody strings and 27 accompaniment strings with a total peg count of 32. The decorative piece at the top of the fretboard may be silver. The front and back appear to be rosewood and the fretboard is a stained wood of unknown species. The distance from the \"zero\" fret to the 12th fret is 8 inches. The overall length is 21.25 inches and the instrument is 11.5 inches at it\'s widest point. Included is a period correct wood handle tuning wrench and the original fitted case that shows some wear but it is invery goodserviceable condition.

Georg Tiefenbrunner was born in Mittenwald in 1812, six years after Bavaria had been transformed from a duchy into a kingdom. Napoleon still dominated the political scene in Europe, and it was just seven years since little Mittenwald had been a scene of conflict, under constant harrassement to deliver supplies (food, rooms, horses) to whichever army happened to be in the vicinity.

Tiefenbrunner was a common family name among the violin makers in Mittenwald at that time. Georg, very likely, spent all his afterschool hours in one of the family or neighboring violin workshops, engaged in all the little tasks Mittenwald boys were then responsible for: carrying, stacking, varnishing (the first coats), polishing, keeping the fire in the stove going, hanging up the violins outside to dry, etc. He learned a lot. Of course he wanted to become a violin maker. But he went into apprenticeship not in Mittenwald, but in Landshut, north of Munich. His master was probably Lorenz Kriner, an excellent craftsman who had been born in Mittenwald himself. Georg later worked in the shop of one of the finest violin makers of the day: Andreas Engleder, in Munich. Here his path crossed that of Anton Kiendl (see below), who took his mastership in Engleder’s workshop. Engleder made some beautiful zithers around this time, some of which may actually have been made by Tiefenbrunner or by Kiendl, with Engleder’s label (as shop master) glued inside. Georg took his mastership as a violin maker in Augsburg.


A different Georg Tiefenbrunner Zither Label

At the beginning of the 1840s, Tiefenbrunner married the daughter of a Munich shop keeper, who sold just about everything, including shoe polish, salt, simple zithers and violin strings (that he made himself). Tiefenbrunner’s father-in-law, Franz Kren, possessed a license to maintain this kind of a shop in the middle of Munich. With his marriage, Tiefenbrunner acquired the right to continue running the shop when his father-in-law retired. In those days, resorting to marriage was one of the few means open to poor, talented craftsmen which assured them the right to a workshop within the city (these being otherwise controlled by the strictly limited guilds). And indeed, Tiefenbrunner took over the Kren family business in 1842. For reasons we’ll have to explain another time, this was perfect timing in an almost-perfect place. Tiefenbrunner’s excellent zithers (and those of his son and grandson) are admired today not only for their sound, but also for their painstaking craftsmanship. In many respects they closely resemble those made by Anton Kiendl.


Purchased at a Philadelphia area estate sale, there is for thisbeautiful antique zither. The winning buyer is expected to pay, or make payment arrangements, within 48 hours. No exceptions pleaseInternational buyers, please note:

This item ships worldwide.

Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.

Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to offerding/buying.

These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick up the item. Do not confuse them for additional shipping charges.

US and international government regulations prohibit us from marking items under actual value or as “gifts”.

Please be aware that if you return the item for a refund, the customs charges are not refunded to you.

Thank you for your attention


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