It has a rectangular sounding box, about 110cm long
that tapers about 13cm toward an end, with a warped sound board made of
unvarnished light wood. The sides are made of hard wood decorated with various
designs, either lacquered or inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The bottom is made of
light wood with sound holes. The broader end of the sound box is pierced with
16 holes and reinforced with a metal band.
Toward the middle of the sound board there are 16
bridges made of wood or bone tipped with copper that can be moved to vary the
tension of the strings, thus creating various notes. At the narrower end of the
box are sixteen pegs for tuning. The strings are metal and tuned to the
pentatonic scale.
The range of the tranh zither is about
three octaves, from the notes C to C3. The player uses a plectrum and can play
chords, trills, tremolos... His left hand, which manipulates the strings, can
use such techniques such as pressing, vibrato, glissando, etc.
The music of the tranh zither is usually
light and full of cheerfulness. The instrument bears some likeness to the
Japanese Koto, the Korean Ka Yagum, the Mongolian Jatac, the Chinese Zeng, and
the Indonesian Kachap, which have 13, 12, 12, 13-16, 7-24 strings,
respectively. It is nonetheless an original Vietnamese instrument with specific
musical characteristics. It is used to accompany poetry recitals and is quite
often part of an orchestra or a band playing chamber music, religious music, or
accompanying cheo or cai luong drama.