| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valiha |  | Madagascar | The valiha is a bamboo tube zither from Madagascar. It is played by plucking the strings, which may be made of metal or (originally) the bamboo skin which is pried up in long strands and propped up by small bridges. The strings are generally made of bicycle brake cable. The cables are unstrung into individual strands and each string of the instrument is made of only one or two strands of the cable, depending upon the tastes of the player. |
| Veena |  | India | Veena is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family. Veena is a string instrument with two gourd resonators connected by a central shaft, possibly of bamboo, and held diagonally from lap to shoulder. |
| Venezuelan Cuatro |  | Venezuela | The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ADF#B). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. Most Venezuelan rhythms rely on the cuatro as their rhythmic and harmonic base. It is used in most genres of the different regions of Venezuela, such as Joropo in the Llanos, Gaita in Zulia, Galeron in the Oriente or calypso in Guayana. |
| Vichitra Veena |  | India | The vichitra veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic gottuvadhyam (chitra vina). It has no frets and is played with a slide. The Vichitra Veena is the modern form of ancient Ektantri Veena. It is made of a broad, fretless, horizontal arm or crossbar (dand) around three feet long and six inches wide, with two large resonating gourds (tumba), which are inlaid with ivory and attached underneath at either end. The narrow ends of the instrument are fashioned into peacock heads, the national bird of India. |
| Vielle |  | Europe | The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs. The instrument was also known as a fidel or a viuola, although the French name for the instrument, vielle, is generally used. It was one of the most popular instruments of the Medieval period, and was used by troubadours (composers and performers of songs) and jongleurs (medieval European bards) from the 13th through the 15th centuries. |
| Viol |  | Europe | The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, fretted stringed musical instruments developed in the 1400s and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Spanish vihuela (a guitar-like plucked string instrument). Some degree of developmental influence, if only in playing posture, is credited to the Moorish rebab as well. Viols most commonly had six strings, although many 16th century instruments had five or even four strings. Unlike members of the violin family, which are tuned in fifths, viols are usually tuned in fourths with a major third in the middle, mirroring the tuning employed on the vihuela de mano and lute during the 16th century, and similar to that of the modern six-string guitar. The image shows a portrait of French composer and viola da gamba master Marin Marais, by Andre Bouys, 1704. |
| Viola |  | Europe | The viola (French, alto; German Bratsche) is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello. The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range (the viola is a perfect fifth below the violin), and identical playing position. However, the viola's timbre sets it apart: its rich, dark-toned sonority is more full-bodied than the violin's. The viola's mellow voice is frequently used for playing inner harmonies, and it does not enjoy the wide solo repertoire or fame of the violin. A "full-size" viola's body is between one and four inches longer than the body of a full-size violin, with an average length of about 16 inches (41 cm). |
| Viola D'amore |  | Europe | The viola d'amore (Italian: love viol) is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. The viola d'amore shares many features of the viol family. Like viols, it has a flat back and intricately carved head at the top of the peg box, but unlike viols, it is unfretted, and played much like a violin, being held horizontally under the chin. It is about the same size as the modern viola. The viola d'amore usually has six or seven playing strings, which are sounded by drawing a bow across them, just as with a violin. In addition, it has an equal number sympathetic strings located below the main strings and the fingerboard which are not played directly but vibrate in sympathy with the notes played. Largely thanks to the sympathetic strings, the viola d'amore has a particularly sweet and warm sound. |
| Violin |  | Finland | The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. |
| Violone |  | Europe | The violone (literally "large viol") is a musical instrument of the viol family. The largest/lowest member of that family, the violone is a fretted instrument with six strings (although some versions had five, or, more rarely, four strings), generally tuned a fifth or an octave below the bass viol. Thus, the violone can properly be called a contrabass instrument, being tuned lower than the bass instrument. The name is also used sometimes for the 8' bass violin (cf. violoncello). The image shows a violone by maker Amit Tiefenbrunn. |
| Violotta |  | Germany | A violotta is a tenor viola (or tenor violin) invented by the German luthier Alfred Stelzner and patented in 1891. It is tuned in G D A E, an octave below the violin. Other instruments called "tenor violin" were tuned a step lower: F C G D (a fifth below the viola). It is rarely used by composers. One of the few works where it is used is the String Quintet in A by Felix Draeseke. |
| Washtub Bass |  | United States | The washtub bass, or "gutbucket," is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a staff or stick to change the tension. The washtub bass was used in jug bands that were popular in some African-Americans communities in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, English skiffle bands used a variant called a tea-chest bass, and during the 1960s, US folk musicians used the washtub bass in jug band-influenced music. |
| Xalam |  | Mali | Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt. Many believe that it is an ancestor to the American banjo. The xalam, in its standard form, is a simple lute with one to five strings. The wooden body (soundbox) of the instrument is oval-shaped and covered with the hide of cattle. |
| Yaylı Tanbur |  | Turkey | The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo. The instrument is held vertically, with the soundbox resting in the player's lap. |
| Yazheng |  | China | The yazheng (Chinese: 軋箏; also spelled ya zheng or ya cheng) is a Chinese string instrument. It is a long zither similar to the guzheng but bowed by scraping with a sorghum stem dusted with resin, a bamboo stick, or a piece of forsythia wood. The instrument was popular in the Tang Dynasty, but is today little used except in the folk music of some parts of northern China, where it is called yaqin (Chinese: 軋琴.) The Korean ajaeng (hangul: 아쟁; hanja: 牙箏) is derived from the yazheng. The image shows Chinese musicians performing classical music. Musician at left is playing a Chinese zither (probably a yaqin). Musician in foreground is playing a long-necked plucked lute. |
| Yehu |  | China | The yehu (椰胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. Ye means coconut and hu is short for huqin. It is used particularly in the southern coastal provinces of China and in Taiwan. The instrument's soundbox is made from a coconut shell, which is cut on the playing end and covered with a piece of coconut wood instead of the snakeskin commonly used on other huqin instruments such as the erhu or gaohu. As with most huqin the bow hair passes in between the two strings. Many players prefer to use silk strings rather than the more modern steel strings generally used for the erhu, giving the instrument a distinctly hollow, throaty timbre. |
| Yueqin |  | China | The yueqin (Chinese: 月琴, also called moon guitar, moon-zither) is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow wooden body which gives it the nickname moon guitar. It has a short fretted neck and four strings tuned in courses of two (each pair of strings is tuned to a single pitch), generally tuned to the interval of a perfect fifth. According to legend, the instrument was invented in China during the Qin dynasty. It is an important instrument in the Beijing opera orchestra. A similar Japanese instrument, called the gekkin, was formerly used in Japan. Another very similar instrument, called đàn đoản or đàn tứ, is occasionally used in Vietnam. |
| Zhonghu |  | China | The zhonghu (中胡) is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. It is an alto member of the huqin family together with the erhu and gaohu, and was developed in the 20th century to be used in Chinese orchestras. The zhonghu is the same as the erhu but is slightly larger and is lower pitched. Its body is covered on the playing end with snakeskin. The instrument has two strings, which are generally tuned to the interval of a fifth, to A and E or to G and D. |
| Zhongruan |  | China | The zhongruan (or zhong ruan; 中阮; literally "medium ruan"), is a Chinese plucked string instrument that may be played with a plectrum or fingerstyle, similar to the pipa. The zhongruan is the tenor size of the ruan (moon guitar.) It has a straight neck, a round sound box, and 24 frets on the fretboard. |
| Zither |  | China | The zither is a musical string instrument, mainly used in folk music, most commonly in German-speaking Alpine Europe and East Asian cultures. Like many other stringed instruments, acoustic and electric forms exist; in the acoustic version, the strings are stretched across the length of the soundbox, and neither version has a neck. They can be divided into two classes: fretted and fretless. The earliest known instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng dating from 433 BC, featuring tuning pegs, a bridge and goose-like feet. The image shows a concert zither with a fretted fingerboard. |
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