Talk:List of string instruments

A fact from List of string instruments appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 20 December 2005. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that string instruments are bowed, plucked, or have their strings struck, with three exceptions : the Aeolian harp uses air movement, the Hurdy gurdy a rotating wheel and for Ellen Fullman's Long String Instrument it will take rosined hands?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2005/December.

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String quantity[edit]

Anyone feel like adding number fo strings after each instrument? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.234.142.139 (talk) 15:34, 2 April 2006

No. ILike2BeAnonymous 23:47, 2 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. The article would get more organized by an instrument sorting based on their quantity. Much people search instruments which have x or y strings. --Algorithme (talk) 14:27, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That might be problematic. A "tiple", for example, may have 4, 5, 10, or 12 strings, depending on which country's tiple you happen to be talking about. And guitars exist with any number of strings from 3 to 25 (and probably other combinations as well -- some are uncommon, but 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12 are all quite common, and could be found in any big-city music store). -- Not that I object to giving the string number(s) for instruments, I just don't think it would help people locate them that easily. And you might also have people editing back and forth at each other, disputing the "proper" number of strings for instruments that may have a dozen or more stringing arrangements. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.92.174.105 (talk) 00:00, 6 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Dulcimer?[edit]

I was looking into learning about a string instrument. Well, I have noticed it is NOT HERE! Can someone please tell me why, or add it, or do SOMETHING to help. The intrument is the Dulcemer(spelling?).

The page is under Dulcimer, and can refer to either the Appalachian dulcimer or the Hammer dulcimer (they're on this page under their respective names). Mak (talk) 16:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Except that there was no entry for Dulcimer here; I've added it to both the "Instruments usually plucked" and "Instruments usually struck" sections, since there are types of dulcimers in each category. ==ILike2BeAnonymous 19:38, 18 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Table[edit]

I propose that this list should be a sortable table, such as List of pitch intervals, such that there need not be multiple lists with hundreds (or more) repetitions. For example, we could have many, many lists: By the method used to play it, whether it has a keyboard or not (there could eventually be more, such as if the instrument has frets or not, number of strings, or by Hornbostel–Sachs), and by country. Or we could have a table where each instrument is listed with details such as number of strings, etc., that would be sortable, so that if one was looking for instruments from a certain country one could easily find them. Hyacinth (talk) 16:40, 25 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

List of string instruments
Instrument	Method	Country	HS	String #	Keyboard	Frets	Drone/Resonance
Harpsichord	Plucked		3		K

Hyacinth (talk) 21:31, 27 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Better organization and elimination of duplicates is certainly a good idea, but I'm not sure that a table is the best answer. For one thing, few of the other such lists I've come across on Wikipedia are given in tables; they're formatted more like this one. Not that a table is a bad idea, necessarily, but you might run into some friction from those more interested in keeping consistency with other Wiki lists.

Also, if you did do a table, I'd be careful about not re-inventing the wheel unnecessarily. There is, for example, already an extensive table of Stringed Instrument Tunings, which includes number of strings, stringing arrangements, alternate names, standard and alternate tunings, country of origin, an illustration, and notes.

String numbers, as already pointed out, would be problematic. The same goes for pitch intervals. A lot of Vietnamese instruments, for example, have no standard tuning -- they're tuned to whatever convenient pitch is most comfortable for the singer. The Columbian tiple and the American tiple, besides having different number of strings, are tuned differently. There are at least a dozen common tunings for the charango, and whole books of tunings have been published for the guitar.

I think a list should be just that: a list. Very simple and straightforward, with links for more detailed information, as appropriate. I would include instrument name, primary manner of playing (bowed, plucked, etc.), country of primary origin/use, and leave it at that. That would contain all the essential info that's in there now, eliminate most duplicates, and make the list searchable (and shorter).

74.95.43.249 (talk) 00:04, 14 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]