Vietnamese Instruments,Instruction Manuals, Replacement Supplies & Spare Parts

Dan Bau Instruction Manual-Text Vietnamese-Music standard western format- Only a few left-Copy quality poor but acceptible
-Price $16.50

Dan-Bau-Study Manual by Bui Lam- Text Vietnamese (music Western) + FREE English Companion + Dan Bau Video Instructions-Both Bui Lam manual and the English language companion have been scanned and put on CD. Price $34.95

The Singer's Lute
Dan Day or Dan Nha Tro
Dan Day is used to accompany the A-Dao (professional singers) in North Viet Nam. Please inquire for price.

Dan Nhi or Dan Co
A fiddle played with a bow, having 2 strings tuned at intervals of a fifth, an unfretted fingerboard, and a pipe-bowl-shaped sound-box. It is capable of great flexibility in range, tone, and dynamics. There are 3 holding positions: The cornet is presses against the musician's hip as he/she walks. The wooden resonant box is held between the musician's knees sitting on a stool. The cylinder is held between the musician's feet in sitting position. Dan Nhi is called Dan Co in South Viet Nam. Inquire for price

Dan Gao or Dan Ho
Slightly bigger than the Dan Nhi with hemispherical resonance box made of coconut. Its sweet sonority resembles that of cello. Same holding positions as of Dan Co. Inquire for Price

Monochord
Dan Bau or Dan Doc Huyen
An acoustical instrument consisting of a sounding box with one string and a movable bridge, used to study musical tones. The instrument's string stretchs over a trapezoidal wood soundboard. The soundboard is made of the hard rind of the bau (type of gourd). Subtle ornamentations, glissandi sounds, and imitation of the human voice could be produced by simultaneously plucking the string and pulling the ancient whammy bar. The whammy bar is a flexible bamboo stem which attachs to one end of the soundbox. Some newer models are desgined to fold in half for easy transport. Sound quality is more subtle and quite with the acoustic Dan Bau, while the electric Dan Bau is more robust and fuller sounding. The acoustics of the non electric model depends greatly on the room you are playing in. These are beautiful and very interesting instruments. We offer both pearl shell decorated and undecorated in both fold-up and straight Dan Bau's, as well as soft or hard shell cases for both.

Dan Tranh or Thap Luc (16)
16-21 string zither composes of a flat sound box with strings stretched over it and played horizontally with the fingertips or a plectrum. Similar to the Chinese tcheng, strings are supported by movable wooden bridge for tuning. Size: 38" L X 6" W (small end) X 8" W (big end). Instrument Defination: "tranh" : to dispute, to quarrel) According to ancient legends, the Vietnamese zither originality had 32 strings. A zither master taught the art of playing this instrument to his 2 young daughters. One day, these 2 young women argued about who was to play the only musical instrument in their house. The master, very angry, broke the instrument in two and made 2 identical 16 stringed zither to please each of his daughters. This is why the instrument is called tranh, which means "to dispute".This is a high quality-professional instrument, with beautiful pearl shell inlay artwork. The sound board is made of Ngo Dong wood, and the side wood is Cam Lai. These woods are used for the best resonance. We offer many grades of Dan Tranh in both decorated and undecorated styles, as well as hard shell or soft case. Note: We have shipped many Dan Tranh's all over the world and found that the soft-well padded carry case, (well packed) offers the best shock protection for shipping. Please inquire for prices, styles and additional photos not shown on this website.