Well, once the 180 pins were all in place, it was at long last time to start putting the wire to this box. Incidentally, as you may have noticed, I decided to wait and drill all the pin holes after finishing. It turned out to be a good plan. I used a new, sharp “pilot point” bit, and the holes are slick as a whistle…not a trace of tearing out around the rims, and no slop whatsoever around the pins. I also decided to drill them at a slant, like a “normal” zither. They were set square originally, and I didn’t like the look of it. Does anybody know why zither pins are usually slanted? Is there some mechanical advantage to setting them slanted, or is it just for appearance’s sake? Is there some mechanical disadvantage to setting them slanted? (Please say no!) Well, for better or worse, here’s the first look at the Dolceola with the strings installed, showing the now-slanted tuning pins.