Tambura: Bulgarian musical instrument

The tambura is a stringed musical instrument that is played as a folk instrument in Macedonia and Bulgaria. Tambura has double steel strings and it is played with a tiny plectrum in a similar way as the mandolin. 

source: stepbystep.com

The Bulgarian tambura has about 8 steel strings in 4 double course and all the courses are tuned in unison and nothing like octaves. The musical instrument is tuned D3, D3, G3, G3, B3, B3, E4, E4 and it has floating sympathetic and a metal tailpiece. The body of the instrument is usually carved from a single block of wood and it is very heavy.

The Macedonian tambura has four strings in 2 double courses and it is tuned to D, D, A, A or any other pitch but at the same intervals of a fifth. The octave of the instrument is usually on the lower course as the instrument has a floating sympathetic and a metal tailpiece. The body of the musical instrument is more often produced from staves like a lute.

This musical instrument is played using a plectrum, playing short on the instrument are plucked from top down while playing long tones with fast tremolo. To play a solo or to accompany a singer, the instrument is played in the traditional way, which is to play a melody on the highest course while using the other courses to make a low humming sound. The more modern way that is used in the orchestras is to play single line tunes using all the courses.

The whole varieties of this musical instrument have a long narrow neck with about 18 to 20 frets. Today, the frets are often arranged in the usually Western 12 note scale but in the past the Farkas system was as well utilized. The Bulgarian tambura is shallower and flat while the Macedonian tambura has rounded and body that has the shape of a bowl.