Croatia
Maker Unknown

Wood, mother-of-pearl, metal strings, metal
Early 20th century
Height: 19.6 in
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes

Croatia has several long neck lutes, called ‘tambura’ (or tamboura).  Originally, they had tear-drop shaped bodies, but here we see the guitar-shape example called the ‘Prim’ or ‘Bisernica,’ the smallest of the five tamburicas (tamburitza) that plays the melody and harmony in the highest octaves of the Tamburitza string orchestra.   This tambura is made with the “Farkaš system,” with only the first 5 frets having a full size. From there, two rows of half frets – on the right side a diatonic row and on the left all the frets in between, thus, together they form a chromatic range.  The tuning head is flat with four tuning pegs on the left side and a sideways curl to the right.  The tuning machines have a curly metal cover plate on the front.  There is one double string, G, and three single strings E, A, D. This is the smallest tamburica but is very loud.

The body and neck are made from medium-colored wood (possibly pine) with a darker veneer wood on the top third of the body and fretboard.   A decorative floral design in mother of pearl is added to the top third of the body.  The sound hole is small and both it and the bottom 2/3 of the body are trimmed with a dotted strip imitating purfling.  There are three small mother-of-pearl circles inlaid on the fretboard.

Tamburas made with frets in the Farkaš system are now very rare and only a few know how to play them today.

Resource:  https://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/europe2.htm