Northern Vietnam

Vietnamese

Wood, nylon, gourd 
Mid 20th century
Length: 38.75 in, Width: 6.5 in, Depth: 3.9 in
Chordophones – Lutes

The đàn tính or tính tẩu (gourd lute), is a long neck spike lute imported from China to Vietnam by the Tay people of Lạng Sơn Province in northern Vietnam. It consists of a gourd resonator body with a portion of one side cut off so that a sounding board of thin cinnamon wood can be glued to the rim to serve as a sound board. On the back side of the gourd are 6 small sound holes. There are two round pegs, one on each side of the pegbox.  The two nylon strings (tuned at a fourth or fifth) are feed through the open pegbox at the top that has a sickle-shaped finial pointing to the back.  These strings pass over two wooden bridges, one at the top of the neck and the other on the sound board, and then attach to a peg at the bottom of the resonator.  The dan tinh is used by several ethnic groups to accompany singing.  Shamans also use the dan tinh in séances (meetings in which a spiritualist attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead).