Inappropriate Zither Design
Jun. 6th, 2022 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellerOkay, guys, this one is weird.
It's a good instrument, no doubt. I will have to wait with tuning (for the same reason as mentioned in the previous post), but it's already obvious that this is an excellent chord zither. Nice, clear, and loud! :) I wasn't able to find out when the instrument was made, but, eh, it's seriously good. In good shape, too - just dirty, some superficial scratches, but not seriously damaged. (One string is missing, but I can replace that.) It's a 6-chord 'mandolin zither' (that is, the melody strings are doubled) with chromatic tuning - absolutely not what I'm used to, but, okay.
But... who the heck designed that?!?!?
This has to be the least appropriate zither art I've ever seen... Actually, that's the reason I bought this thing: exactly my kind of humor... (I burst out laughing when I saw it!) But there's no real doubt the design is also the reason this instrument was dirt cheap: the target group is... Uh, close to nonexistent. For several reasons:
a) Naked lady. German folk art -> nudity -> no-no. This is not an instrument you could display to guests in the living-room of your traditional-style household... (Even less so at the time this was built, actually.)
b) Naked lady on a product for an almost exclusively female target group (men don't play the chord zither! XD), which kind of limits the target group further.
c) Grossly inappropriate symbolism. Like... Water lilies, in German folklore, symbolize death by drowning. So, for that matter, do mermaids. Who on earth thought a death-by-drowning-themed instrument was a great idea?!?
Anyway... I think the design is brilliant in its weirdness, and of course I simply had to have this one! :D
It's a good instrument, no doubt. I will have to wait with tuning (for the same reason as mentioned in the previous post), but it's already obvious that this is an excellent chord zither. Nice, clear, and loud! :) I wasn't able to find out when the instrument was made, but, eh, it's seriously good. In good shape, too - just dirty, some superficial scratches, but not seriously damaged. (One string is missing, but I can replace that.) It's a 6-chord 'mandolin zither' (that is, the melody strings are doubled) with chromatic tuning - absolutely not what I'm used to, but, okay.
But... who the heck designed that?!?!?
This has to be the least appropriate zither art I've ever seen... Actually, that's the reason I bought this thing: exactly my kind of humor... (I burst out laughing when I saw it!) But there's no real doubt the design is also the reason this instrument was dirt cheap: the target group is... Uh, close to nonexistent. For several reasons:
a) Naked lady. German folk art -> nudity -> no-no. This is not an instrument you could display to guests in the living-room of your traditional-style household... (Even less so at the time this was built, actually.)
b) Naked lady on a product for an almost exclusively female target group (men don't play the chord zither! XD), which kind of limits the target group further.
c) Grossly inappropriate symbolism. Like... Water lilies, in German folklore, symbolize death by drowning. So, for that matter, do mermaids. Who on earth thought a death-by-drowning-themed instrument was a great idea?!?
Anyway... I think the design is brilliant in its weirdness, and of course I simply had to have this one! :D
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