Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
George J. Selinshick 

Wood, leather, mother-of-pearl, metal strings
Mid 20th century
Length: 35 in; Width: 11.88 in; Depth: 4.25
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes

Written inside on wood:  Made by / George J. Selinshick / 1309 W. North Ave. / N.S. Pgh. 33 Pas.
Engraved on each peg: KLUSON / DELUXE

East Europe has quite a few long neck lutes; a lot of them called tambura (or tamboura). Originally, they are based on instruments from southern parts of Europe, like the Turkish saz, or the Albanian cifteli or the sargija. The body used to be pear-shaped, but more recently the guitar-shape is getting more popular. Over time it has evolved to become the Croatian and north Serbian national instrument.

In places like Bulgaria and Macedonia, the tamburas are the only plucked instrument played in a group. However, in Serbia and Croatia they have groups (tamburitza) playing solely plucked instruments – of different sizes, expanding into a whole family known as the tamburitza orchestras.

The basic tamburicas are from the smallest to the largest: bisernica, brac, bugarija, celo and berde. The tamburitza group may have just one of each, or several close to the same size and they may also be tuned differently.  The tamburica is plucked or strummed, by hand or with a plectrum. 

This is one of several tamburicas in this collection made by tambura maker George Selinshick (1894 – 1979) from Pittsburgh PA.  It is set up with 5 metal strings and is called the tenor guitar shaped ‘Brac’ or ‘Basprim.’   It is the next largest to the ‘Prim’ or ‘Bisernica’, the smallest of the tamburicas.  The ‘Brac’ plays the melody and harmony in the mid-range octaves.

Resource:  https://www.domatrading.com/tamburica-folk-music/