Bosnia & Herzegovina
Custom Hand-made

Ash, maple, cherry, plum woods, metal strings
2018 A.D
Length: 45.25 in, Width: 11.25 in, Depth: 6.75 in
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes

This is a double neck Bosnian šargija anglicized as ‘shargia.’   It originated in Bosnia and Herzegovina around the 1500s.  It is a fretted long-neck lute used in the folk music to accompany singing and dancing of various Balkan countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo.  In Herzegovina, it is still known as a tambura.  The šargija  is part of a larger family of instruments that includes the Balkan tambura and the bağlama (or tambura saz), tamburica, and the tambouras.

This instrument has a teardrop shaped body, almost triangular and coming to a rounded peak in the back. The body, double neck, head and face are carved from three distinct stains, with the head and face the lightest followed by the body and then the neck. The face is also decorated with some small triangular sections of the dark wood, a heart with a blue dot, and there are burned cross and foliage decorations across the face creating trim. There are ten metal strings with wooden tuning pegs. 17 metal frets are attached to each neck and top of the body. Three mother of pearl circles are inlaid on each of the necks. There are two small carved wooden bridges.  Unique to the Bosnian šargija are the glasnice (sonorous holes), which are drilled in the face board.  They are considered to provide better spreading of sound vibrations from inside the kutla (resonator body).  The number of glasnice vary from one instrument to another.   This instrument is strummed and plucked with the fingers.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%AOargij