Tarhui - 1998
Background
The first tarhui was a small, violin string-length instrument with 4 strings and was the second member of the tarhu family to be created. This instrument was also where the spherical body first appeared. The sickle-shaped head design of the first tarhui was used for all the early tarhuis, as well as many subsequent ones. While the first few tarhuis had no sympathetic strings, these were added to the design in 2002 along with an alternative head shape that more easily accommodated sympathetic strings. The straight head design transformed the tarhui into a half-size replica of the longneck tarhu, and this is where it found its niche – 4 playing strings, 8 sympathetic strings and viola string length/pitch range. The sickle head still continued to be used on and off, with the sympathetic strings being tuned by zither pins behind the bridge.
Tarhuis in chronological order: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2015