Old dead chorded zither
Here is a 1910's Phonoharp No. 2-1/4 chorded zither. It's classified as a 15/4 because it has 15 melody strings and four groups of four strings that each make a chord. Seems like everyone has something like this in their attic and for the most part they're worthless. I picked this one up on ebay for $10 or $12 and it sat on a shelf for a couple years before I tackled it. At first glance it didn't look all that bad but the soundboard had shrunk and cracked badly, making a 1/4" wide gap in it. The framework has shrunk, too, I'm sure, but not to the same degree as the soundboard.
I made the decision to "make it work and look right" despite maybe a little bit of unconventional repairs. I opened up all the glue joints except for the one on the bass side, since it was completely intact, everything lined up, and would serve as a benchmark to rebuild the rest of it.
The next few photos show the slow rebuild:
With the soundboard drawn back together and the crack barely visible, it all came down to trimming the wood that had NOT shrunk!
Once that was done I touched it up with some black paint and antiqued it a little, so the 2008 repair wouldn't be obvious.
The final lovely joy filled chore was to restring it. Zither strings aren't exactly point-of-purchase items in the express lane at WalMart, alongside the nail clippers, Tic Tacs and Britney Spears Monthly. I was able to re-use most of the strings, rough as they were, and I made a few from guitar strings, which is labor intensive and makes one appreciate a good set of needle nosed pliers.