Model Nr. 3

Model Nr. 3

The first Boehm instruments with elaborate scratch plates seem to have had not a scroll head but a head similar to the simpler Boehm models. Until now, no such instrument has been found, but there are old photos which display such instruments.

Model Nr. 3 is essentially a Waldzither Nr. 2 which has received such an additional ornamented scratch plate, a scroll head (also adapted from the Guitarra Portuguesa), and a black glass bridge instead of a white one. In consequence, the development of this model is quite similar to the development of Nr. 2 (although this has to be guessed in some places because of the few unaltered instruments that have survived). But after the First World War the same phase with a reduced design can be observed, although the design of Nr. 3 is even more affected because here, the highly ornamented tortoise shell scratch plate is replaced by a simple wooden one. 

And, just as on Model Nr. 2, the MOP inlays on the fingerboard are reduced, the outer ring around the sound hole vanishes and the herringbone strip in the middle of the back is replaced by a simple line of fair wood.

Apart from the tuners and the tailpiece, the pre-war instruments also differ from the later 1920s instruments in some respects (again similar to Nr. 2). The old edging in different wooden colours is replaced by a more colourful one, the wood of back and sides also changes from Brazilian Rosewood to Indian Rosewood, and Boehm keeps the wooden scratch plate (instead of a tortoise shell one) even when it receives back its MOP ornamentation (which again slightly differs from the earlier type of ornamentation).