The ''sueng'' ( th, ซึง, Burmese: ၄ကြိုးထပ်ပို (ဆီုင်), , also spelled ''seung'' or ''süng'') is a plucked fretted lute from the

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

(

Lanna The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...

) region of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. The instrument is made from hardwood and its strings (numbering either four or six and arranged in courses of two) are most often made of steel wire. It has nine bamboo

frets A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instrume ...

. The ''sueng'' is part of a northern Thai traditional ensemble called the ''salo''-''so (saw)''-''sueng'' ensemble, along with the ''salo'' (3-string spike fiddle) and ''pi so'' (free reed pipe). The ''sueng'' is similar to the ''

grajabpi Krachappi (Thai: กระจับปี่, pronounced ra.tɕàp.pìː, also spelled Grajabpi, is plucked, fretted lute of Thailand, used in central Thai classical music. It has four strings in two courses that are plucked with a plectru ...

'' (กระจับปี่), an ancient Thai instrument that is used in the classical music of

central Thailand Central Thailand (Central plain) or more specifically Siam (also known as Suvarnabhumi and Dvaravati) is one of the regions of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from northeast Thailand (Isan) by ...

Construction

Most suengs are made from a single piece of

Jackfruit The jackfruit (''Artocarpus heterophyllus''), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats of southern India, all of Bangladesh, ...

wood, carved into shape by the artisan. Once carved, a round sound board of the same wood is glued to the instrument. Trapezoid shaped sticks are cut form a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

stem and installed as

. The tuning pegs are then installed: this pegs only have an aestethic function nowadays, as many modern suengs rely on guitar

machine heads A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...

for tuning. Eventually the instrument is painted and sometimes decorated with Lai Thai motifs. The bridge can be made from either bone or hardwood. Other woods used for the construction of the sueng are

Rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...

and

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

Sound

The

on the sueng are spaced differently than western fretted instruments. In fact, with such arrangement of frets, the instrument plays in the

7-TET An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, w ...

temperament, meaning that in one octave the instrument plays seven tones, as opposed to the twelve tones of western music. This temperament is found in

traditional Thai music The music of Thailand reflects its geographic position at the intersection of China and India, and reflects trade routes that have historically included Africa, Greece and Rome. Traditional Thai musical instruments are varied and reflect ancien ...

and in other instruments like

Ranat ''Ranat'' ( th, ระนาด, , also spelled ''ranad'' or ''ranaat'') is the generic name for keyboard percussion instruments used in the music of Thailand. The bars of the various types of ''ranat'' may be made from hardwood or bamboo (''ranat ...

. The playing technique resembles the one of the

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

where the two strings in the course are tuned to unison and played together as one, with a long soft pick most often made of plastic.

Construction

Sound

See also