Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1892 — The Zither is All the Rage. [ARTICLE]

The Zither is All the Rage.

“The demand for the zither,” said Alfrgd Hartmann to a reporter, “has recently increased to an enormous extent, and is constantly growing. There are aboqt a hundred zither clubs in New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey, and about 10,003 persons who play the instruraent. Some of these clubs have fifty members, and others only four for quintettes. Some clubs are composed of ladies and gentlemen, and others of ladi-u only. When the mandolin came in with a rush of popularity, five years ago, there were only two or three man-dolin-makers in the country, and now there are hundreds. The growth of the zither in popularity has been steadier, and as its merits become known is likely to become more permanent. For some time jiast we have been away behind in filling our orders. “The cheap instruments,” Mr. Hartmann continued, “are imported fivm Germany, but as a rule they soon crack. They can’t stand the climate. The ?;est instruments are made in America. The sounding-boards are made of Amen tan spruce from the Adirondacks, which is Letter than Italian, German,or in fact any European spruce. Any one who can play the piano can learn to play the zither in three months, and a person can tn ch hirnself if he chooses by using one of <he many books for self-instruction which sere published both in English and Gcrme.i.’' —'New York News.