Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
George J. Selinshick 

Wood, leather, mother-of-pearl, metal 
Mid 1950s
Height: 24.5 in; Width: 9.13 in; Depth: 2.38
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes

Written inside where neck meets resonator: G.l.S.
Penciled inside: 1 5/8

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 measures the size of a larger ‘Bisernica’   and is a tenor-shaped guitar.  The ‘Bisernica’ plays the melody and harmony in the highest octaves and is the soprano lead voice of the orchestra.  The instrument is finely detailed with ornate features including trim around the front and back edges of the resonator body.  The sound hole is surrounded by dark wood and blocks of MOP.  Decorative flowers and leafy vines in MOP are implanted on the dark wood.  There are four pegs on the left side of the ‘f-shaped’ peghead and two on the right. 

Resources: https://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/europe2.htm https://www.domatrading.com/tamburica-folk-music/