Model Nr. 4

Boehm's top Model Nr. 4 was introduced roughly at the same time as the other standard models, that is in 1905. This model also underwent some changes during the nearly 40 years of its production although it remains unclear which of these changes were made for aesthetic reasons and which had to be done due to a change in the materials he received from external providers.

An obvious change in the edging must have happened fairly early, for there is only one instrument from ca. 1905 which has a different edging than all later Waldzithers Nr. 4. This Waldzither (which has unfortunately only partially survived) is particularly interesting, for it is exactly the type of instrument which C. H. Boehm used for an early potrait photo (the only one we have from him). The change in the edging must have happened shortly afterwards, for there is an instrument with the same label (and tuners which point to ca. 1906) that already displays the meander edging which is to be seen on all subsequent instruments (and which seems to have become a bit smaller in the 1920s).

Apart from this, the very first Nr. 4 has already the same features as the other instruments from before 1920 (at least as the few ones that are known today). The later Waldzithers display minor variations in their design: On the back, the edging and the middle strip slightly change; on the top, the rings around the sound hole now display the herringbone pattern known from the other models. The inlays on the fingerboard  are also slightly altered (the arrow between fret 6 and 7 having changed its direction even earlier).

The butterflies on the scratch plate (which can also be seen on the top models of Boehm’s competitor Becker) seem to have been individually designed by hand; the scratch plate itself is (like the one on Model Nr. 3) after 1920 no longer made out of tortoise shell but out of dark wood. And after the war the wood of the back and sides also changes from Brazilian Rosewood to Indian Rosewood.

The tuners and tailpieces of Model Nr. 4 are the same as on the other models but it seems as if Boehm provided these instruments even in later times with Portuguese screws if customers requested this.

Boehm Models

Model Nr. 0

Model Nr. 1/Nr. 1A

Model Nr. 1B

Model Nr. 1C

Model Nr. 2

Model Nr. 3

Custom Models

Mandola Conversions