Pipa

Description

This is a flat, pear-shaped bowl lute made of wood, with a short neck section and an angled pegbox almost at a 90 degree angle. The fingerboard has three large round bone frets and one of wood, and there are four more raised bamboo frets glued onto the top of the soundboard (total number is probably nine as the soundboard has marks). There are four silk(?) strings (two broken) attached to a wooden tie-bridge, with bone saddle, glued onto the soundboard. The pegbox has four friction pegs made of wood. There is also a rectangular piece of reptile skin glued onto the soundboard, just above the bridge, which probably functioned as pickguard.