zither

Member of a family of musical instruments consisting of one or more strings stretched over a resonating frame or soundbox, played horizontally. The modern concert zither has up to 45 strings of which five, passing over frets, are plucked with a plectrum for melody, and the remainder are plucked with the fingers for harmonic accompaniment.

Simple stick-and-board zithers are widespread in Africa; in India the vina represents a developed form of stick zither, while in Indonesia and the Far East versions of the long zither prevail. Tuning is by movable bridges and the long zither is played with a plectrum, producing an intense tone of sharp attack.