correction: about a reply I made to Monz

In Joe's article on Arabic lute frettings, I made the statement that the "Arabic lute" used by al-Farabi for demonstration was the oud, a normally fretless instrument. After doing a little research, I've found that the instrument is not the oud, but the tanbur, a *Persian* long-necked instrument with frets!

It's an instrument widespread in Central Asia, and Turkish saz (found in various sizes, ba�lama being the most common) is very similar. Traditionally, tanbur has seventeen frets per octave, or more precisely, seven frets per fourth, the same "Persian scale" we discussed here earlier.

(There's also a Croatian lute-type instrument called tamburitza, but I presume it's fretted in 12-tone.)