List of musical instruments by Hornbostel–Sachs number: 321.33

Tanged lutes are common in East Africa, as are a closely related class of instrument called spike lutes. These are instruments in which the handle does extends all the way through the resonator. A hereditary class of West African musicians, griots, play tanged lutes, and no other form of stringed instrument; non-griot performers in West Africa play a mixture of both spike lutes and tanged lutes.[3] The term griot lute thus typically refers to these tanged lutes of East Africa.[4]

The resonator of East African lutes may be made of wood, metal (such as a discarded can) or a half-calabash gourd. Griot lutes are exclusively wood, while non-griot lutes occur in all three categories. Typically, calabash lutes have no more than two strings, while the wooden instruments generally have more.[4]

Griot lutes tend to be wooden troughs, either boat- (naviform) or figure-8-shaped. Lutes used by griots have a V- or fan-shaped bridge, a feature unique to East African lutes, while non-griot lutes use cylindrical bridges; a few use two-footed bridges in the shape of an upside-down "u", while the Hausa wase places the bridge under the head, creating a ridged lump upon which the strings rest.[3] Non-griot lutes are not restricted by heredity, and are used for many social purposes, most commonly hunting.[4] It likely that one or more of these instruments is the ancestor of the African American banjo.[3][5]

3: Instruments in which sound is produced by one or more vibrating strings (chordophones, string instruments).

32: Instruments in which the resonator and string bearer are physically united and can not be separated without destroying the instrument

321: Instruments in which the strings run in a plane parallel to the sound table (lutes)

321.3: Instruments in which the string bearer is a plain handle (handle lutes)

321.33: Instrument in which the handle extends into but does not pass completely through the resonator (tanged lutes)

These instruments may be classified with a suffix, based on how the strings are caused to vibrate.

• 4: Hammers or beaters
• 5: Bare hands and fingers
• 6: Plectrum
• 7: Bowing
  • 71: Using a bow
  • 72: Using a wheel
  • 73: Using a ribbon
• 8: Keyboard
• 9: Using a mechanical drive

• Coelho, Victor Anand (2003). The Cambridge Companion to the Guitar. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00040-8.
• von Hornbostel, Erich M.; Curt Sachs (March 1961). "Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann". The Galpin Society Journal. Galpin Society. 14: 3–29. doi:10.2307/842168. JSTOR 842168.
• Shlomo Pestcoe (2005). "Banjo Ancestors: The Lutes of West Africa". Griot Lutes. ShlomoMusic.

• Brown, Howard Mayer. "Chordophone". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Volume II. London: Macmillan. pp. 549–553.
• Wachsmann, Klaus. "Lute 1: The Generic Term and Lute 2: Ancient Lutes". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Volume II. London: Macmillan. pp. 549–553.