What in the World Is a . . .
Moon Guitar?

Think Far East. It's a traditional stringed instrument in China, known there as the yuet chin. An almost all-wooden creation, it resembles an American banjo, with a broad, round "pot" about two inches thick—but with an extremely short neck and grotesque, knobby tuning "keys."

The first ch'in instruments were zither-like and may have been played by Chinese philosophers as early as Confucius' time. A related instrument, the teardrop-shaped pipa, became popular during the 7th Century A.D. Today, folk stringed instruments in China include the ruan and sanxian; the former has a notably longer neck than the yuet chin, the latter an extremely long, thin neck in proportion to its smallish, skin-covered "head."

Lark in the Morning, an international musical instrument company in California, sells three-stringed moon guitars, priced in the hundred-dollar range. It also carries about a dozen other types of Chinese string, wind and percussion instruments and a selection of oriental recordings.

Next question: How in the world might one play the moon guitar?

Er . . . ask the folks at Lark.

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