BULGARIAN SMALL TAMBOURA Professional hand made instrument

This is a Bulgarian tamboura (rebec) HANDMADE instrument of smaller size, appropriate also for children and beginners as it is easier to play. It is absolutely PROFESSIONAL, it is NOT Souvenir.

If you would like to order such kind of tamboura, please contact us in advance.

The tamboura is of perfect make and is intended for professional musicians. The instrument is UNIQUE, entirely handcrafted. It is of a skillful craftsmanship resulting from master's hard work, creativity and rich professional experience. The wood material used is 15 years old, dried and processed via special traditional technology. The maker of the tamboura we offer you is known for his talent on a national and Balkan region level. He is a third-generation master: both his father and grand father were into the string instruments making.

This tamboura is made after the bigger one which is intended for orchestra playing. Here are the materials that have been employed for the make of the tamboura we now offer you:
- acacia wood material was used for the corpus and neck;
- the fingerboard and the "donkey" are made of mahogany, whereas for the make of the lid was employed spruce tree;
- the keys for the strings are made of metal.

The strings are 6 in number. They are placed in groups of two. The instrument is in 2 octaves, 24 positions. The tamboura is tuned in: E-B-G. Yet, the musicians can change it according to their preferences.
Full length of the instrument: 64 cm/25,2 inches. Graduated measure: 41 cm/ 16.2 inches.

This exotic traditional folklore instrument is of perfect quality and is a perfect example of a rich musical culture.

About the master: Christo Stefanov is one of three best and most popular masters of Bulgarian string instruments. Bai Christo ( bai- a form expressing respect put in front of a name), as they call him, is a 3rd generation musician and instrument master. Because of his indisputable craft skills Bai Hristo produces instruments for most Bulgarian state and local orchestras and ensembles. A great part of the music schools also order his instruments. Bai Hristo has a few Master Certificates from the Bulgarian Masters' society. Apart from that, he is also awarded with different honorary Diplomas and prizes from expositions. Several articles and books popularize his skills, knowledge and products, the instruments themselves. Bai Hristo is also popular with his creative imagination that helps him prepare all kinds of string instruments - whatever a musician would like to experiment with.
HRISTO STEFANOV'S INSTRUMENTS, AN EXAMPLE OF WORKMANSHIP, ARE MADE AFTER TRADITIONAL OLD CRAFT TECHNOLOGIES. THEIR QUALITY IS GUARANTEED!

More about the instrument of TAMBOURA / Pandore
General info: Tambura / Pandore is one of the most popular string instruments in the Balkan peninsula countries. It is widespread in the Southwest regions of Bulgaria - Pirin Mountain, the Rhodope Mountain and Thrace.

Construction: The corpus of the instrument is pear-shaped and consists of: most (bridge), a long thin neck, at the end of which there are placed the keys called tchivii or tchuckcheta. The strings (i.e. the vibrators) are fixed in a wooden or metal tailpiece, glued on the corpus, while at their other end they are fixed with the help of a small wooden board. They are stretched and tuned by means of wooden keys installed at the end of the neck. On the neck (finger board) of the tamboura, in older times the people used to place hemp positional boards. Later on they were made of wood and nowadays they are made of metal. Through the finger boards - numbering from 12 to 18, the string, based on the principle of aliquot sections, is divided into portions, which determine the different intervals. The strings are usually made of thin iron wire. They are usually double 3 or 4 in number. The pandore strings are tuned in the following intervals: unison, quatro or quinto plus quinta in descending order. The bottom string and sometimes the string next to it are melodious, while all the rest of the strings are bourdonic, so that the tamboura can be also used as a polyphonic instrument. The 3 double stringed tamburas may also be pitched D, A, D.

Playing: When playing the Tamboura it is held horizontally and slightly touching the player's chest, while the strings are struck with the plectrum (tezane) - made of cherry-tree bark.