photo of Surrogate Kithara
Photo by Fred Lyon
SURROGATE KITHARA

BUILT: 1953, at Gate 5, Sausalito, California.
SIZE: Roughly a triangle, 40 by 40 by 36 inches. Each resonator is 36 by 5.5 by 4.5 inches, outside. The attached seat for the player is 14 inches above the floor, and the upper resonator 22.5 inches above.
MATERIALS: Redwood base, and redwood resonators except for thin vertical-grain Sitka spruce for soundboards. Mandolin tuning beads.
TONES: Each resonator has eight strings. The higher is composed of identities of a major tonality, the lower of identities of a minor tonality. As with the Kitharas, 0.5 inch glass rods stop the strings for higher tones and chords. Played with picks, fingers, mallets, and felted sticks.

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