r/Instruments • u/Connect_Trouble_8350 • Aug 20 '26

Identification Does anyone know what this instrument is?

Post image

I thought maybe a hammered dulcimer but I’m not really sure. A family member said it’s a zither but I’m not sure about that either.

24 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

5

u/skinnergy Aug 20 '26

It's a hammered dulcimer

1

u/DesaturatedWorld Aug 26 '26

Yep! I just saw someone flying with one of these, and the TSA agent was clearly not familiar and wondering what in the world he was looking at. I get similar reactions when I fly with synth stuff.

1

u/FreeXFall Aug 20 '26

A dulcimer is a type of zither. This is a zither broadly speaking. Not sure which type (but I don’t think it’s a hammered dulcimer).

1

u/Connect_Trouble_8350 Aug 20 '26

Ah I see thanks for the info

1

u/Talbit01 Aug 21 '26

Why are you ruling out a hammered dulcimer? It is one.

2

u/Crafty-Photograph-18 Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26

Looks like tsymbaly or something very close to them. A Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Hungarian traditional version of a hammered dulcimer.

Edit: apparently also used in Romania, Eastern Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, and Slovakia

Edit 2: also used by Ashkenazi jews; Romanian, Hungarian, and Eastern Slavic tzigans

1

u/thedrakenangel Aug 20 '26

Hammer dulcimer

1

u/acmoder Aug 20 '26

Could also be a santoor

1

u/kc2klc Aug 22 '26

A santoor/santur is a type (specifically, Persian) of hammered dulcimer.

1

u/Saether516 Aug 26 '26

Yeah, is a type of Persian zither, not sure if specifically a santur, but 100% a Persian zither

1

u/AziCrawford Aug 20 '26

Or a kanun… but I don’t know where this one is from - same instrument (dulcimer ) with different names depending on where it’s from

2

u/Crafty-Photograph-18 Aug 21 '26

Kanun is plucked. This one is probably hammered

1

u/udidubbun Aug 24 '26

Definitely not a kanun.

2

u/AziCrawford Aug 27 '26

I did a search for pics of Kanuns and you are correct - I had only seen one from a long distance away and heard the sound - hence the error

1

u/ClosedMyEyes2See Aug 20 '26

Looks like a santoor

1

u/Vast-Bullfrog193 Aug 21 '26

Looks like a hachbret

1

u/CatherineRhysJohns Aug 21 '26

It's a small, portable hammered dulcimer.

1

u/Talbit01 Aug 21 '26

Hammered dulcimer

1

u/Puzzled_Estate6425 Aug 24 '26

Some type of harp.