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Bass zither with springs for strings

Posted 10/28/2021
image of zither with springs for strings


This strange instrument was inspired by a conversation Kris and I had about Blixa Bargeld's spring drum.
It uses strat pickups wired in series (was in parallel and hooked up with alligator clips for the original demo video, wiring was altered later, there will be an update later) for picking up the springs.

The springs were some 5" springs I got off the shelf at a local industrial surplus store. They are wrapped around duplex nails (double headed nails) at either end, and are tuned by changing the length of each element at the nail(tension only slightly changes pitch).
Spring coiled around duplex nail

It is very overtoney. 

Demo Video Link, Odysee Mirror