30 The Zither Family
The term "citre" is also used more broadly, to describe the entire family of stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box, including the hammered dulcimer, psaltery, Appalachian dulcimer, guqin, guzheng (Chinese zither), koto, kantele, gayageum, đàn tranh, kanun, autoharp, santoor, yangqin, piano, harpsichord, santur, swarmandal, and others. Modern electric zithers exist, as well as a wide variation of experimental zithers like the Kitaras of Harry Partch, the Shruti Stick and the Moodswinger.
Perhaps the best known Zither piece is the theme used in the beginning of the movie The Third Man. Here is Anton Karas playing his original Zither composition, The Third Man Theme.
A modern Zither with a modern player. To me it is more interesting than The Third Man Theme.
The fretless Zither is not as versatile as the fretted ones.
The Dolceola is a Zither with a keyboard. I can not tell if the strings are plucked like a Harpsichord or hammered like a piano. I think the sound is more like a Harpsichord. It resembles a toy piano.
The Marxophone is a Zither with a keyboard which has flexible hammer handles. These cause the hammers to bounce on the strings.
The bowed Psaltery is a Zither.
The Kantele is a plucked Psaltery, or Zither. Most string instruments, with slight alterations, can be plucked, bowed, or hammered.
The Tremoloa is a weird Zither.
The Hummel is an old Swedish stringed instrument similar to an older type of zither and is related to the Norwegian langeleik. The Hummel is plucked with a quill.
The Taishōgoto is a kind of zither. This instrument features numbered keys that press metal bars over the strings. The right hand strums the strings on the right side of the instrument with a pick, while the left hand is used to press down on the keys that change the pitches of the strings. In this sense, the instrument is similar to the autoharp.