| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starosvitska Bandura |  | Ukraine | The Starosvitska bandura is a folk instrument from Ukraine. It is also referred to as Classical or old-time bandura. These instruments usually have some 20-23 strings. Thes instruments are usually hand-made, with no two instruments being exactly the same. The backs are usually hewn out of a single piece of wood, and wooden pegs hold the strings which are tuned diatonically. Traditionally these instruments had gut strings, however, at the beginning of the 20th century common performance practice preferred steel strings. |
| Surbahar |  | India | The Surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is related to the better-known sitar but has a lower tone. It is usually pitched 2 octaves below the standard sitar but as Indian classical music has no concept of absolute pitch, this may vary. The surbahar is over 130 cm (51 inches) long, uses a dried pumpkin as a resonator, and has a neck made of teak with very long frets that allow a glissando of six notes on the same fret by the method of pulling. |
| Tahitian Ukelele |  | Hawaii | The Tahitian Ukulele (also known as the Tahitian Banjo) is significantly different from other ukuleles in that it does not have a sound box. The body including the head and neck is usually carved from a single piece of wood, with a wide conical hole bored through the middle. The instrument seems to be a relatively recent invention, popular in eastern Polynesia, particularly French Polynesia. It is reported to have been introduced to the Cook Islands in 1990 by the band Te Ava Piti as a newly invented instrument. |
| Takhe |  | Cambodia | Takhe (also called krapeu) is a plucked musical instrument from Cambodia. It is a crocodile-shaped fretted floor zither with three strings. |
| Tambura |  | Bulgaria | The tambura is a type of stringed instrument found in different versions in different places around the world; most are plucked lutes. The New Grove Dictionary of Music assigns the term to the Eastern European variety of the saz, and to the Indian fretless drone lute. The Bulgarian tambura (see image) is a long-necked, fretted, bouzouki-like string instrument that comes in two styles: eight-string (four pairs) and four-string (two pairs), played with a plectrum. |
| Tamburitza |  | Croatia | The Tamburitza, or Tamburica, is a popular instrument in the folk music of Croatia (especially Slavonia) and northern Serbia (Vojvodina). It is the Croatian national string instrument. It is a string instrument similar to the mandolin that is plucked. Five types of Tamburitza: (1) Bisernica (or Prima) is the smallest tamburitza. It has 5 strings; E, A, D and 2 G strings. It is very loud and it is about 50 cm long. (2) Brač (or Basprima) is a slightly bigger instrument than the bisernica but is played in a similar fashion. (3) Čelo is similar in size to bugarija, and used for dynamics. (4) Bugarija (or Kontra) is similar to a guitar, but has only 3 or 4 strings. (5) Bajs (or Berda) is the largest tamburitza. |
| Tanbur |  | Turkey | The term tanbur or tambūr (Arabic,طنبور) can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. In Turkey, the terms bağlama and saz both refer to a long-necked lute used in folk music. The Turkish tanbur is a larger variant used in art music. The yaylı tanbur variant is played with a bow instead of a plectrum. The image shows a Turkish tanbur. |
| Tar |  | Iran | The tar is a long-necked, waisted lute found in Azerbaijan, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, and other areas near the Caucasus region. The word تار tar itself means "string" in Persian. This is claimed to be the root of the names of the Persian setar and the guitar as well as less widespread instruments such as the dutar and the Indian sitar. Tar is one of the most important Iranian and Azerbaijani musical instruments. The formation, compilation, edition, and inheritance of the most authentic and most comprehensive versions of radif are all worked on tar. The general trends of Persian classical music have been deeply influenced by tar players. The image shows a woman playing the tar in a painting from the Hasht-Behesht Palace in Isfahan, Iran, 1669. |
| Tea Chest Bass |  | Europe | A tea chest bass is a home-made musical instrument that uses a tea chest (a wooden chest of the type once used in the shipment of tea) as the resonator for an upright stringed bass. The instrument is made from a pole, traditionally a broomstick, placed into or alongside the chest. One or more strings are stretched along the pole and plucked. In Europe, particularly England and Germany, the instrument is associated with skiffle (a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence) bands. In Australia it was traditionally used to provide the low end for "bush bands", though most such groups today use electric bass or double bass. |
| Tekerőlant |  | Hungary | The tekerőlant is a small-wheeled Hungarian hurdy gurdy. The wheel diameter is less than 14 cm, or about 5.5 inches. The tekerőlant most commonly has three strings: one melody string, one tenor drone and one bass drone. It sometimes has up to five strings. It has a wedge-adjusted buzzing bridge. The broad keybox is often carved or decorated extensively. The image shows two tekerőlants made by Béla Szerényi. |
| Theorbo |  | Europe | A theorbo (from Italian tiorba, also tuorbe in French, Theorbe in German) is a plucked string instrument. As a name, theorbo signifies a number of long-necked lutes with second peg-boxes, such as the liuto attiorbato, the French théorbe des pieces, the English theorbo, the archlute, the German baroque lute, the angelique or angelica. The instrument was called both chitarrone and tiorba. It is important to note that, although theorbo and chitarrone are virtually identical, they have different etymological origins, chitarrone being a descendant of chitarra italiana. |
| Timple |  | Canary Islands | Migrating from North Africa in the 16th century to the Canary Islands and then on to Murcia, the Timple has become the traditional instrument of the Canaries. In the north Island of Tenerife many timples are played incorrectly, where by dropping the 5th string to allow for Ukulele tunning to be adopted. It is generally agreed that this method of playing the Timple is incorrect and that the timple ceases to be a Timple when only 4 strings are in use. Popular tunning is GCEAD. |
| Tiple |  | Puerto Rico | The Tiple is the smallest of the 3 musical string instruments of Puerto Rico. Most Tiples have 4 or a 5 strings and most tiple requintos have 3 strings. The main types of Tiples in Puerto Rico are: 1. Tiple Doliente (see image) - 5 single strings; the most common used today. 2. Tiple Requinto de la montaña - a tiny version of the Tiple doliente with only three strings. 3. Tiplón or Tiple con macho - the biggest tiple. 4. Tiple Requinto costanero - a smaller version of the Tiplón with only three strings. |
| Tonkori |  | Japan | The tonkori (katakana: トンコリ) is a plucked string instrument played by the Ainu people of Hokkaidō, northern Japan and Sakhalin. It is unfretted and has between three and five strings which are not stopped but instead played "open." The instrument is believed to have been developed in the Karafuto region of Sakhalin. The instrument is constructed of Jezo Spruce with strings made of gut or vegetable fiber. Its shape is traditionally said to resemble a woman's body, and the corresponding words are used for its parts. The most prominent tonkori performer is Oki Kano (see image), who often uses the instrument in contemporary and cross-cultural performances and recordings. |
| Torban |  | Ukraine | Torban was manufactured and used mainly in Ukraine, but occasionally also in Poland and Russia. There are about two dozen torbans in museums around the world, with the largest group of 14 instruments in St. Petersburg. The torban has approximately 30 strings, usually made of gut, although instruments having up to 60 strings are known to have existed. A predecessor of the torban called kobza (also known as bandura) was the instrument of the common folk. It differed from the torban by the absence of the bass strings. |
| Tres |  | Cuba | The tres is a chordophone created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rican tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument. The Cuban tres has three courses (groups) of two strings each for a total of six strings. From the low pitch to the highest, the principal tuning is in C Major: G, C, E. However, today many treseros are playing a step up A, D, F# or D Major. |
| Tro |  | Cambodia | Tro is the generic name for traditional bowed string instruments in Cambodia. Instruments in this family include the two-stringed tro u, tro sau toch, tro sau thom and tro che, as well as the three-stringed tro Khmer spike fiddle. |
| Tromba Marina |  | Europe | A tromba marina, or marine trumpet (Fr. trompette marine; Ger. Marientrompete, Trompetengeige, Nonnengeige or Trumscheit, Pol. tubmaryna) is a triangular bowed string instrument used in medieval and Renaissance Europe that was highly popular in the 15th century and survived into the 18th century. The tromba marina consists of a body and neck in the shape of a truncated cone resting on a triangular base. It is usually four to seven feet long, and is a monochord (although some versions have sympathetically-vibrating strings). It is played without stopping the string, but playing natural harmonics by lightly touching the string with the thumb at nodal points. The image was scanned from Olga Racster's _Chats on Big and Little Fiddles_ Frederick A. Stokes, NY 1922. |
| Tumbi |  | India | The tumbi is a traditional North Indian instrument from the Punjab region. The high pitched, single string plucking instrument is associated with folk music of Punjab and presently very popular in Western Bhangra Music. The instrument is made of a wooden stick mounted with a Toomba or wooden resonator covered with skin. A metallic string is passed on a resonator over a bridge and tied to the key at the end of the stick. The string is struck with the continuous flick and retraction of the forefinger. |
| Ukelele |  | Hawaii | The ukulele is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four strings or four courses of strings. The ukulele is commonly associated with music from Hawaii, where the name roughly translates as "jumping flea", and was developed there in the 1880s as a combination of the Madeiran braguinha and rajão. |
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