Measuring about 30 inches (76 cm) from neck to foot, it has a membrane belly and, commonly, two to four strings tuned in fourths or fifths.
Most string is applied in separate groups of two to four strings set apart about two to six inches (5cm to 15cm), which makes it relatively easy to gather up in your hands if you've cut all the strands on the other side of the bale.
The lyres of medieval western Europe (4th 12th century) had from five to seven strings and, to judge from iconographic evidence, were played in a way that closely resembled the muting technique of Ethiopia.
The chitarrone had six to eight strings running over the fingerboard to a pegbox (the part of the instrument in which the tuning pegs are set) positioned midway in an extended neck.
In works with continuo it had been an accompanying instrument, improvising its part according to the directions indicated in the figured bass; now the keyboard instrument became dominant in new combinations that included one to four strings.
I changed it from six to eight strings and managed to play for the first time songs like Guantanamera, Mercy Mercy and Summertime.
Lyra was a medieval pear-shaped bowed string instrument with three to five strings, held upright and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin.
A precursor to the bandura was the kobza, a three- to eight-string instrument mentioned in Greek literature of the 6th century.
The South Asian fiddle, sarangi, has some two to three dozen sympathetic strings; the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle (Hardingfele) has four or five sympathetic strings; and the viola d'amore typically has seven.
Cut the rope or string two to three times as long as the width of your bag.
