Lavta, with Soft Case

Lavta, with Soft Case. The Lavta was popular in the an early 20th century among Greek and Armenian players. The lavta has a body made of solid wood staves, a guitar-like neck with tied movable nylon frets, a 'mustached' bridge and inlayed rosette. The pegbox is at a sharp angle to the neck, like the oud. The tuning pegs are violin style friction pegs. The Lavta is sometimes called a Laouta (ending in a ) but not a Laouto (ending in o ) which is a different instrument. The Lavta is more of a melody instrument which has a much lower tension on it than a true Laouto. It is played, Like and oud, with a long thin plectrum. There are 7 nylon strings in 4 courses, 3 paired and 1 single. Comes set up for CGDA tuning. Approximately 29 x 12 inches. Soft zippered case included.