The explanation of the terms listed below refer to their usage in the field of Mechanical Music. Many of the descriptions are from the book The Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments by MBSI member Arthur A. Reblitz, published by the Mechanical Music Press, Woodsville, New Hampshire; copyright 2001. They are used here with permission of the author and publisher. Permission is granted for writers to use a limited number of brief excerpts provided credit is given to the MBSI web site, the title of the original work and the author. Written permission is required for all other uses. German nouns and words that are also names of places are capitalized.
Zinn Pipe
German term used by Welte to identify a silver-colored tin alloy pipe found in the front row of most Welte orchestrions.
Zither
1. Plucked stringed instrument with separate sections of unfretted bass/accompaniment and fretted melody strings. Produces a clear, ringing tone. 2. Music box attachment that applies a hollow cylinder of tissue paper to the comb, producing a pizzicato or plucked string effect.