| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rudra Vina |  | India | The Rudra Veena (also spelled rudra vina, and also called been or bin) is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is an ancient instrument, and is rarely played in the present day. The rudra veena declined in popularity partly due to the decline of Dhrupad and the emergence of fast paced Khayal in the Indian Durbars. Rudra Veena has a long tubular body with length ranging between 54 to 62 inches made of wood or bamboo. Two large-sized, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. |
| Sanshin |  | Japan | The sanshin (三線, literally meaning "three strings") is an Okinawan musical instrument, and precursor of the Japanese shamisen. Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Traditionally, players wore a plectrum, made of a material such as the horn of the water buffalo, on the index finger. Many still do, whereas others use a guitar pick or the nail of the index finger. In Amami, long, narrow plectra of bamboo are also in use. |
| Sanxian |  | China | The sanxian (Chinese: 三絃; literally "three strings") is a three-string fretless plucked musical instrument from China. It has a long fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snakeskin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes for different purposes and in the late 20th century a four-stringed version was also developed. The sanxian has a dry, somewhat percussive tone and loud volume similar to the banjo. The larger sizes have a range of three octaves. The sanxian is used in nanguan and Jiangnan sizhu ensembles, as well as many other folk and classical ensembles. |
| Sarangi |  | India | The Sarangi is a bowed string instrument of India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is an important bowed string instrument of India's Hindustani classical music tradition. Of all Indian instruments, it is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice – able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamakas (shakes) and meend (sliding movements). Three of the strings are bowed with a heavy horsehair bow and "stopped" not with the finger-tips but with the nails, cuticles and surrounding flesh. |
| Saraswati Veena |  | India | The Saraswati veena (also spelled Saraswati vina) is an Indian plucked string instrument. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati (see image), who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument. It is one of the three other major types of veena popular today. The others include vichitra veena and rudra veena. Out of these the rudra and vichitra veenas are used in Hindustani music, while the Saraswati veena is used in the Carnatic music of South India. |
| Sarinda |  | India | A sarinda is a stringed Indian folk musical instrument similar to lutes or fiddles. It is played with a bow and has three strings. It is played while sitting on the ground in a vertical orientation. The tribes of India, e.g. Tripuris, find use of sarinda in their traditional music and dance. |
| Sarod |  | India | The sarod or sarode is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in Hindustani (north Indian) classical music. The sarod is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound (contrast with the sweet, extremely rich texture of the sitar). It is a fretless instrument like almost all other Indian instruments, since Indian music depends extensively (in some cases almost entirely) on continuous slides between notes, known as meend (glissando). |
| Saung |  | Burma | The saung (also known as the saung-gauk, Burmese harp, or Burma harp) is a traditional musical instrument of Burma (Myanmar). It is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. It dates back to the 9th century, though it has changed quite a bit since then, expanding, for example, from three strings to sixteen. The main parts of the harp are the body, the long curved neck, carved out of the root of a tree, and a string bar running down the center of the top of the body. The top of the resonator body is covered with a tightly stretched deer hide, heavily lacquered with four small circular sound holes. The neck terminates in a highly decorated representation of the bo tree leaf. The ends of the strings on the harp are decorated with red cotton tassels. The thirteen to sixteen strings of the harp angle upwards from the string bar to the string bindings on the lower part of the curved arch of the neck. |
| Saw Sam Sai |  | Thailand | The saw sam sai (also known as saw samsai or sam sai; literally "three stringed fiddle") is a traditional bowed string instrument of Thailand. Its body is made from a special type of coconut covered on one end with animal skin, and it has three silk strings. Typically, the player glues a jewel onto the skin before playing, to reduce the skin's resonance. |
| Saz |  | Iran | The saz is a family of plucked string instruments, popular in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, and the Balkan countries. The saz is descended from the kopuz. The Saz is used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Kurdish music, Azeri music, and Persian music. |
| Setar |  | Iran | Setar (Persian: literally three string) is an Iranian musical instrument. It is a member of the lute family. Two and a half centuries ago, a fourth string was added to the setar, which has 25 - 27 moveable frets. It originated in Persia around the time of the spread of Islam and is a direct descendant of the larger and louder tanbur. The setar is significantly different from the Indian sitar, with which it is sometimes confused due to the similarity of their names. |
| Seung |  | Thailand | The seung (also spelled sueng or süng) is a plucked fretted lute from the northern region of Thailand. The instrument is made from hardwood and its strings (numbering either four or six) are most often made of steel wire. It has nine raised frets. The seung is part of a northern Thai traditional ensemble called the salaw-saw-seung ensemble, along with the salaw (3-string spike fiddle) and pi saw (free reed pipe). The image shows a 4-string (right) and a 6-string seungs displayed in a small museum of musical instruments in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. |
| Shamisen |  | Japan | The shamisen or samisen (Japanese: 三味線, literally "three taste strings"), also called sangen (literally "three strings") is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. It is the most common instrument in Japanese traditional music. The shamisen is similar in length to a guitar, but its neck is much slimmer and without frets. Its drum-like rounded rectangular body, known as the dō, is covered front and back with skin in the manner of a banjo, and amplifies the sound of the strings. |
| Shlemovidnye Gusli |  | Russia | Shlemovidnye gusli is one of the traditional folk instruments from Russia. It is a helmet-shaped gusli. It is a variety of gusli held by the musician on his knees, so that strings were horizontal, resonator body under them. The musician uses his left hand to mute unnecessary strings and thus forming chords, while passing all the strings with his right hand. The instrument was spread in southern and western regions of Kievan Rus’. |
| Shurangiz |  | Iran | The shurangiz is a newly Iranian musical instrument, a member of the lute family, developed under supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh. It has a skin face, six strings, a longer finer fingerboard and increased number of frets comparing with its original prototype setar. The image shows Hossein Alizadeh at a concert in London. |
| Sihu |  | China | The sihu (四胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument with four strings. It is a member of the huqin family of instruments. Its soundbox and neck are made from hardwood and the playing end of the soundbox is covered with python, cow, or sheep skin. The sihu is primarily associated with the mongolian culture. It is also used as a traditional instrument in the Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang provinces of China. |
| Sintir |  | Morocco | The sintir, also known as the Guembri or Hejhouj, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body a carved from a log and covered on the playing side with camel. The neck is a simple stick with one short and two long goat strings that produce a percussive sound similar to a pizzicato cello or double bass. |
| Sitar |  | India | The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance. Predominantly used in Hindustani classical, sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages. This instrument is used throughout the Indian subcontinent. |
| Spanish Laúd |  | Spain | The Spanish laúd is a plectrum plucked chordophone from Spain. It has a flat back and a pear shaped body. It consists of twelve metallic strings (six double), as the bandurria, but the neck is longer than a bandurria. Traditionally it forms part of serenaders or folk string musical groups, together with the guitar and the bandurria. Like the bandurria, it is tuned in fifths. |
| Spanish Vihuela |  | Spain | The Spanish vihuela is a string instruments from 16th century Spain. The vihuela is considered by some to be the (more ancient) precursor to the modern classical guitar. In Italy and Portugal this same instrument was known as viola da mano. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double-strings (paired courses) made of gut. Plucked vihuela, being essentially flat-backed lutes, evolved in the mid 1400s, in the Kingdom of Aragón (located in North-Eastern Iberia or Spain). In Spain and Italy (and other regional kingdoms under their influence) the vihuela was in common use in the late 15th and 16th centuries. |
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