Alexander Violin
Inventor Sylvanus J. Talbott American
Not on view
This unusual sixteen-string bowed zither was patented by Sylvanus J. Talbott of Milford, New Hampshire in 1887 (Patent Number 375,224, dated December 20, 1887). It was commercially produced and available in D. H. Beaman's catalog of 1890. The strings are tuned diatonically in C Major (though can be tuned to other keys). It was intended to be held like a typical violin, though to rest on the arm instead of on the neck. The handle allows the player to turn the instrument to make the individual strings more easily playable with a bow.
Technical description: Bowed zither with sixteen wire strings passing over individual moveable wood bridges arranged on a diagonal line over the curved belly; the body trapezoidal in outline and half-circular in cross-section, being a longitudinal half section of a tapering hollow cylinder of pine; the strings pass over wire nuts atop raised wood bands at each end, and hitch to nails on the smaller end and to small pierced iron tuning pins on the larger end; also on the larger end, a tuned hickory handle, and a smaller handle protruding from the back; two soundholes (straight slots terminating in round holes) on the belly; beneath the strings at the larger end, a strip of paper numbering and naming each string diatonically C to D of the second octave above (bass string is C number 1, highest string is D number 16). Played with a common painted violin bow.
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