1. Saw daung (ซอด้วง)
Made from woods or elephant's ivory. (The last one is hardly used due to natural environment problem and elephants extinction crisis.) Shaped like a Chinese instrument Hu-chin. Soundbox is covered by snakeskin. It has two strings, made from silk, suspended by wooden bridge called yong (หย่อง). The bow is between two strings, not separated like viol family instruments. 120-150 threads of horsehair are used for it. Its body is approximately 72 centimeter (2 feet 4 11/32 inch) high. Its bow is 68 centimeter (2 ft 2 49/64 inch) long.
Saw duang has treble and bright sound. The first string sounds "Sol".(Equals to F in western music) and the last one sounds "Re". (Equals to C) The name duang is come from a kind of animal traps duang jab sat (ด้วงจับสัตว์), which the shape of saw duang is similar to it.
Saw duang is the leading instrument in all-strings ensemble Krueang sai and Mahori.
2. Saw u (ซออู้)
Like saw duang, it made from wood or ivory, except for its sound box, which is made from coconut shell covered by cowskin. The back of shell is carved for let the sound out. Two strings with bow between them, suspended by cloth-covered bridge called morn (หมอน , literally pillow).
The first string sounds "Do" and the last one sounds "Sol"
Saw u has this name from its mellow tone. The saw u is similar to Cambodian trua u.
3. Saw sam sai (ซอสามสาย)
Three-string instrument, as is in Thai name. It is bigger than saw duang and saw u Its bow is separated from fiddle. Body is made from coconut shell, triangle-shaped, covered by animal skin. Usually has a piece of jewel onto the skin to reduce resonance. When you play, you have to put it in front of you vertically.
In Northern Thailand, there is an instrument which its shape is similar to saw sam sai called salo, but I'll talk about this later.
The first string sounds "La", the second one is "Re" and the last one is "Sol".
Saw sam sai is the hardest instrument in all saw family.
I'm sorry that I don't have any saw sam sai in my house. But you can find a picture of this kind of instrument by yourself.
Note: These pictures in this article are my own copyrighted.
