Necked bowl lutes

A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A variety of string types are used, with steel strings being the most common and usually the least expensive. The courses are typically tuned in an interval of perfect fifths, with the same tuning as a violin (G3, D4, A4, E5). Also, like the violin, it is the soprano member of a family that includes the mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and mandobass.

The oud ( ; , ) is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument (a chordophone in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification of instruments), usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have five or seven courses, with 10 or 13 strings respectively.

The balalaika (, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck, and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perfect fourth higher. The higher-pitched balalaikas are used to play melodies and chords. The instrument generally has a short sustain, necessitating rapid strumming or plucking when it is used to play melodies. Balalaikas are often used for Russian folk music and dancing.

The dombra, also known as the dombyra (; ), is a long-necked musical string instrument used by the Kazakhs, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Nogais, Bashkirs, and Tatars in their traditional folk music. The dombra shares certain characteristics with the komuz and dutar instruments, such as its long, thin neck and oblong body shape. It is a popular instrument mostly among Turkic communities in Central Asian countries.

The bağlama or saz is a long-necked fretted lute used in the folk music of Turkey and neighbouring regions of the Middle East and Central Asia. It belongs to the wider family of long-necked lutes known as Tanburs, a group of instruments historically distributed from Iran and Mesopotamia across Central Asia and Anatolia.

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The pipa () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones, its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped

The bouzouki (, also ; ; plural. bouzoukis or bouzoukia, ) is a musical instrument popular in Greece.

The dutar (also dotar; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia.

The () or lahuta (; related to English lute) is a bowed single-stringed musical instrument (and musical style) traditionally used in the Dinarides region of Southeastern Europe (in the Balkans). The instrument is always accompanied by singing; musical folklore, specifically epic poetry. The player (; ) holds the instrument vertically between the knees, with the left hand fingers on the string. The string is never pressed to the neck, giving a harmonic and unique sound.

The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rosettes. As with the lute, the player plucks or strums the strings with the right hand while "fretting" (pressing down) the strings with the left hand.

thumb|A 19th century sarod, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet, overtone-rich timbre of the sitar, with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant, reverberant quality. A fretless instrument, it can produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend (glissandi), which are important in Indian music.

The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710–794).

Middle Eastern and Central Asian long-necked, waisted string instrument

The tanpura (; also referred to as tambura, tanpuri, tamboura, or tanpoura) is a long-necked, plucked, four-stringed instrument originating in the Indian subcontinent, found in various forms in Indian music. Visually, the tanpura resembles a simplified sitar or similar lute-like instrument, and is likewise crafted out of a gourd or pumpkin.

The term Tanbur can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur (or tambur) is applied to a variety of distinct and related long-necked lutes used in art and folk traditions. Similar or identical instruments are also known by other terms." These instruments are used in the traditional music of Iran, Iraq, India, Armenia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan (especially Avar community), Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ka

The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola (C3-G3-D4-A4), a fifth lower than a mandolin. The mandola, though now rarer, is an ancestor of the mandolin. (The word mandolin means little mandola.)

lute-like musical instrument

A setar (, ) (lit: "Three Strings") is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.

thumb|A street musician in Toulouse, France, playing a gadulka. The gadulka () is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gǎdulka", "gudulka" and "g'dulka". Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz". The gadulka is an integral part of Bulgarian traditional instrumental ensembles, commonly played in the context of dance music.

The domra (, , , domry) is a long-necked Russian folk string instrument of the lute family. It has a round body and three or four metal strings.

The ' or esraaj (from the Shahmukhi: اسراج Bengali: এস্রাজ) is a stringed instrument found in two forms throughout South Asia. It is a relatively recent instrument, being only about 300 years old. It is found in Pakistan and North India, primarily Punjab, where it is used in Sikh music, Bangladesh and West Bengal, India where it is used in Rabindra Sangeet and Classical Music. The is a modern variant of the ', differing slightly in structure.

The banhu () is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. Ban means a piece of wood and hu is short for huqin.

musical instrument

The archlute (, , ) is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the theorbo. Essentially a tenor lute with the theorbo's neck-extension, the archlute lacks the power in the tenor and the bass that the theorbo's large body and typically greater string length provide.

Surbahar (; ) sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is closely related to the sitar, but has a lower pitch. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar.

The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appeared in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted played with a quill plectrum, as can be seen clearly beginning in manuscript illuminations from the thirteenth century. It was also called the ' in Spain, or in France, the in Italy and ' in Germany. A popular instrument with court musicians, minstrels, and amateurs, the gittern is considered an ancestor of the modern guitar and other instruments like th

The gudok (, ), or gudochek (, ), is a Russian folk string instrument, played with a bow.

The kobyz or qobyz, also known as the kylkobyz, is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs, and Tatars. The Kyrgyz variant is called the ).

The cobza (also cobsa, cobuz, koboz) is a multi-stringed instrument of the lute family of folk origin popular in Romanian, Moldovan and contemporary Hungarian folk music. The cobza is a pear-shaped string instrument with a short neck and wooden body, traditionally used to provide rhythm and harmony in folk music. It can be played solo or in groups and is usually strummed with a folded goose feather. It is considered the oldest accompaniment instrument in the region comprising Romania and Moldova. The usage of a related musical instrument in Hungary may date back to at least the 16th century, p

plucked string instrument

Central Asian lute

right|thumb|''Sana'a al-Haneen, performed by Hussain Moheb A qanbūs () is a short-necked lute that originated in Yemen and spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Sachs considered that it derived its name from the Turkic komuz, but it is more comparable to the oud. The instrument was related to or a descendant of the barbat, a (possibly) skin-topped lute from Central Asia. The qanbūs has 6 or 7 nylon strings that are plucked with a plectrum to generate sound. Unlike many other lute-family instruments, the gambus'' has no frets. Its popularity declined in Yemen during the early 20th century re

left|thumb|100px|Igil made by Oktober Saya The igil, also known as ikhel (Mongolian: ихэл, (Tuvan: игил) is a two-stringed Tuvan musical instrument, played by bowing the strings. (It is called "ikili" in Western Mongolia.) The neck and lute-shaped sound box are usually made of a solid piece of pine or larch. The top of the sound box may be covered with skin or a thin wooden plate. The strings, and those of the bow, are traditionally made of hair from a horse's tail (strung parallel), but may also be made of nylon. Like the morin khuur of Mongolia, the igil typically features a carved horse's h

Baglamas tuning|thumb|left The baglamas ( ), plural baglamades) or baglamadaki (), a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a smaller version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D), with unison pairs on the four highest strings and an octave pair on the lower D. Musically, the baglamas is most often found supporting the bouzouki in the Piraeus city style of rebetiko.

thumb|alt=|A folk musician playing Dotara in Dhaka, [[Bangladesh]] The dotara or dotar ( dütüra, দোতৰা dütora, ; dotora), (literally, “Of [or ‘having’] two strings”) is a two-stringed, plucked musical instrument from South Asia, with most contemporary models having four playing strings (similar to the sarod). Comparatively, the sarod is a slightly larger and more elaborate instrument, being built with an additional set of resonant sympathetic strings. However, the dotara is still quite resonant and projective of its own sound, due to its rounded shape and overall construction. It is commonly

File:Mandora MET DP168838.jpg|Mandora (1726) File:Lute 2, MfM.Uni-Leipzig.jpg|6~9 courses lute (Calchedon, Calichon) (1735) File:Gallichon, Muzeum Instrumentów Muzycznych w Pradze.jpg|Gallichon The mandora or gallichon is a type of 18th- and early 19th-century lute, with six to nine courses of strings. The terms were interchangeable, with mandora more commonly used from the mid-18th century onwards.

thumb left|thumb|225x225px|Bosniak from Sarajevo with a Šargija, 1906. The šargija, şarkiya (, , ), anglicized as shargia is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries and Thrace including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey. The instrument is part of a larger family of instruments which includes the tambura, balkan tambura, tamburica, tambouras, çöğür and the bağlama.

thumbnail|Sursingar player The sursingar (IAST: ), sursringar or surshringar (Sringara: Pleasure in Sanskrit), is a musical instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent, having many similarities with the sarod. It is larger than the sarod and produces a deeper sound. It precedes the sarod chronologically.

plucked string instrument of the lute family of the baroque era

The liuqin () is a three, four or five-stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than other Chinese plucked string instruments, and it is used in both orchestral music and solo pieces in Chinese music. This has been the result of a modernization in its usage in recent years, leading to a gradual elevation in status of the from an accompaniment instrument in folk Chinese opera, to an instrument known for its unique tonal and acoustic qualities. The instrument is held diagonally like the Chinese and . Its strings are elevated by a bridge and the sou

The chuniri () is a bowed musical instrument of Georgia. ==History== Only the mountain inhabitants of Georgia preserve the bowed chuniri in its original form. This instrument is considered to be a national instrument of Svaneti and is thought to have spread in the other regions of Georgia from there. Chuniri has different names in different regions: in Khevsureti, Tusheti (Eastern mountainous parts) its name is chuniri, and in Racha, Guria (western parts of Georgia) chianuri. Chuniri is used for accompaniment. It is often played in an ensemble with changi (harp) and salamuri (flute). Both men

The tovshuur, also known as topshur or topshuur (Mongolian Cyrillic: ; ; Mandarin Chinese: 托布秀尔 Tuō bù xiù ěr) is a two- or three-stringed lute played by the Western Mongolian (Oirats) tribes called the Altai Urianghais, the Altais, Tuvans, and Khalkha peoples. The topshur is closely tied to the folklore of Western Mongolian people and accompanied the performances of storytellers, singing, and dancing. According to descriptions given by Marco Polo, the Mongols also played the instruments before a battle.

The laouto (, pl. laouta ) is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. It has four double-strings. It is played in most respects like the oud (plucked with a long plectrum); in Cyprus the laouto is plucked with a feather. This instrument is known in Albania as "llautë" (indefinite form) or "llauta" (definite form), and in Romania as "lăuta".

The buzuq (; also transliterated bozuq, bouzouk, buzuk etc.) a long-necked fretted lute, likely originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in the Levant, where it is prominent in Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian music. Its roots may trace back to ancient stringed instruments, evolving into its modern form by the 19th century. The buzuq's metallic strings and thin neck allow for intricate melodies, making it a favored solo instrument in traditional settings. It gained popularity in urban music scenes, especially in Cairo's early 20th-century music halls, where it was adapted for lar

thumb|Bowed zhonghu The zhonghu (), short for zhongyin erhu () is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. Together with the erhu and gaohu, it is a member of the huqin family. It was developed in the 1940s as the alto member of the huqin family (similar in range to the European viola) to increase the pitch range of the instruments used in a Chinese orchestra.

thumb| The Apkhyarta (Ap'hyartsa) is a bowed long-neck lute from Abkhazia. It has 1-2 strings and is played in Abkhazia. Also called Ap’hyartsa, it comes with a narrow spindle-shaped frame, played with a bow and usually carved from alder wood.

The erxian () is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the family of instruments. It has two strings and is used primarily in Cantonese music, most often in "hard string" chamber ensembles. In the 1920s, following the development of the , the experienced a decline and since the late 20th century has been little used outside the tradition of Cantonese opera.

Kemane (Macedonian: ќемане, ; ) is a bowed string instrument traditionally used in the Balkans and Anatolia. It is the Macedonian and southern Serbian version of the kemenche, it is very similar to the violin or viola and related to the Bulgarian gadulka. The kemane also resembles the Greek instrument lyre. The instrument is usually used to accompany folk music and singing, particularly epic poetry, and is rarely used as a solo instrument.

Vietnamese plucked lute

musical instrument

pear-shaped stringed instrument played with a bow, from Asia Minor

The ronroco (also spelt ronrroco) is a bass or baritone member of the charango family, with a 44–50-centimetre scale length. It was invented in 1968 by brothers Gonzalo and Wilson Hermosa, of the group Los Kjarkas from Cochabamba, Bolivia, and spread to common usage during the 1980s. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was further popularised by Argentinian musician and composer Gustavo Santaolalla.

The rud () is a Persian stringed musical instrument. In Persian, the word means "string". It has been mentioned in classical Persian literature by Rudaki, Hafez, Naser Khusraw, Sanai, Ferdowsi, Nizami and Qatran Tabrizi other poets. The Arabic 'Ud, whose etymology is not yet convincingly explained, may well have been derived from the Persian word rud.