17-STRING KOTO: Japanese musical instrument

The 17-string koto is a traditional musical instrument of japan. The musical instrument is a zither with 17 strings. It is a version of the koto that has 13 strings traditionally.

The musical instrument is also called jūshichi-gensō or bass koto. The musical instrument was fabricated in the year 1921 b y Michio Miyagi, a musician that felt that the standard of the main instrument, koto, does not have the re range he need. His 17-stringed invention that is sometimes called bass koto has a deeper sound and need specialized plectra for the playing of the musical instrument. Though his main jūshichi-gensō was seemingly larger than the normal version of the musical instrument, 17-stringed version of the musical instrument of the normal verasaion are more common presently.

The musical instrument is analogously manufactured from the paulownia tomentosa wood, though the thickness of the musical instrument is approximately twice than the single version of the musical instrument. The wood is dried and treated by the traditional pattern until the wood becomes good for the construction of the instrument. The strings of the musical instrument consist of silk threads that are yellow in color. The strings give the instrument a deep tune. The strings of the musical instrument are tied from one end up to the other extreme and a platform is made of ivory. Then, the instrument’s strings are tied over small cylindrical holders that have holes and tied very tightly to the down side of the instrument. The bridges of the musical instrument are also even bold than the common bridges that are found on the normal version of the musical instrument. The plectra that are used on the musical instrument are manufactured from special ivory so that plucking of the instrument can be easily done. When playing the musical instrument, there is a danger that the bridges of the instrument can fall from their place, but the strings of the instrument are tied so that the bridges of the instrument can never fall of but can be moved.

Some players of the musical instrument also use to color some particular bridges of the instrument so that the bridges may not fall while playing the instrument.

Players of the musical instrument also fabricated new styles for performing the musical instrument. It uses more of the left hand as the instrument manufactures a deep sound that last for some time. This assists to manufacture more pitches at one string. The strings of the musical instrument are plucked over the cylindrical holder extenet to manufacture a sudden shrill. The area of the musical instrument toward the left hand side is played or plucked by the left hand. This produces a very good and humbling tune from it.

Miyagi also fabricated an 80-string version of the musical instrument.