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#1
07-22-2019, 07:47 AM
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Anybody know anything about....
"chord zithers?" It's on Craigslist at a low price, and might make a nice wall hanging....
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Emerald X20 Emerald X20-12 Fender Robert Cray Stratocaster Martin D18 Ambertone Martin 000-15sm Last edited by RP; 11-20-2021 at 07:08 AM. 
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#2
07-22-2019, 11:27 AM
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stai scherzando?
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#3
07-22-2019, 03:07 PM
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Thanks Frank. Does the one for sale (top picture) look exactly like the one on Wikipedia (bottom picture) or is it just a case of, if you've seen one ukelin, you've seen them all???
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Emerald X20 Emerald X20-12 Fender Robert Cray Stratocaster Martin D18 Ambertone Martin 000-15sm
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#4
07-22-2019, 05:12 PM
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Quote:
http://www.fretlesszithers.net/Quick...Violin-Uke.htm There is a huge amount - an amazing amount - of information on ukelins (and violin-ukes) at Bob's Ukelin Page: http://studiobobo.com/ukelin/ukelin.html#anchor7480843
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stai scherzando?
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#5
07-24-2019, 02:32 PM
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We were "gifted" (cursed is more accurate) with a ukelin last year. Ask me how I really feel. The wooden box that it came in was far more useful and valuable than the instrument, followed by the old towel it was wrapped in. It went to Goodwill with some old clothes this past week, although I felt a little bad about saddling them with it. The accepted value of these is ~$35 and mostly as a novelty. A replacement set of strings is over $75. Hard pass......
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#6
07-24-2019, 05:57 PM
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RP, starting in the 1880's and extending at least into the early 1940's, this and similar instruments were sold mostly to rural families by traveling salesmen who would visit the folks at their homes, demonstrate some simple tunes, then show a child or other family member how to play a tune. In the days before radios, especially, the appeal was: "Give your family the gift of music!" and "Look, it's so easy to play even a child can do it!"
They were sold on installment plans, a quarter a week or a month or whatever it was, and lots and lots and LOTS of them got sold. I can't count how many I've seen hanging on the walls gathering dust at antique stores all over the country. Marxolin was one common brand, but there were several competing companies making them:  Marxolin "Violin-Uke" These instruments are not an example of instruments that used to be played a lot but have fallen out of fashion; instead they're simply artifacts of a peculiar marketing technique from a bygone era. I don't think many people who owned them EVER got particularly good at them. Anyway, they have these in antique shops and junk stores all over the country. Hope this helps. Wade Hampton Miller
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#7
07-25-2019, 08:52 AM
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Wade's spot on with the story.
My parents were in the antique business for over 30 years and regularly had people bring these in thinking they had unearthed a Stradivarius from their attic. They NEVER purchased one, as the market was so flooded with them that you almost had to give them away to get rid of them. They had a single like-new-in-box one that came in a large lot purchase and languished in a corner taking up valuable space for years.
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