Turkey
Turks

Wood, nylon strings, bone, plastic
Mid 20th century
Length: 34.5 in
Chordophones – Lutes

The term bağlama or saz is used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey and denotes the tanbur family of long-necked plucked lute instruments.  This Turkish baglama has a pear-shaped bowl resonator with a wooden soundtable that supports a decorative bone rosette in the center.  There are numerous nylon frets with six plucked strings divided into three double courses.  The basic parts of this baglama include the inlaid bowl, called tekne; a decorated sound board of spruce, called gogus, with inlaid mother-of-pearl, bone, and two types of darker wood; and the long narrow neck also inlaid throughout in the same design as the resonator body.  The baglama is a very popular melody instrument in Turkey and is used for entertainment and dance music.  It is sometimes accompanied by percussion instruments such as the dumbelek (goblet drum), parmak zili, and silli masa (cymbals).

Resource:  ‘Baglama,’ R. Conway Morris. “The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.” 2nd ed. Vol. 1, Laurence Libin, Editor in Chief.  Oxford University Press,