The octavina is a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

-shaped Filipino

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 instrument with a tuning similar to the laúd

Laúd

The word laúd is the Spanish word for lute. It is most commonly used to refer to a plectrum-plucked chordophone from Spain. It belongs to the cittern family of instruments. It has six double courses , similarly to the bandurria, but its neck is longer...

.

History

With the large Spanish influence from the 16th to the 19th century, many traditional Spanish instruments became incorporated into the Filipino culture, and after passed time, have evolved into entirely unique instruments. The Spanish precursor to the octavina may have been the smaller-bodied, 14 strings banduria-like instrument called the "Octavina", although its use was not as prominent or popular. The name as translated in all versions of the instrument has the prefix

Prefix

A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...

 of octa-

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

 which refers to the tuning of each set of double strings.

Tuning

The Octavina has a set of 14 strings

Strings (music)

A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...

 in 6 courses: 6th-single, 5th-double, 4th-double, 3rd-triple, 2nd-triple and 1st-triple.It is numbered starting from the bottom. It is tuned similarly to that of the bandurria, but one octave lower, giving:

• 1st: G (sol)
• 2nd: G (sol)
• 3rd: G (sol)
• 4th: D (re)
• 5th: D (re)
• 6th: D (re)
• 7th: A (la)
• 8th: A (la)
• 9th: A (la)
• 10th: E (mi)
• 11th: E (mi)
• 12th: B (si)
• 13th: B (si)
• 14th: F# (fa #)

Construction

Formed like a guitar with in most cases, a figure eight-shaped body and a round sound hole,the Octavina has a shorter neck

Neck (music)

The neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches. Guitars, lutes, the violin family, and the mandolin family are examples of instruments which have necks.The...

, with only 16 frets as compared to the laud, a close relative, which has between 18 and 20. The instrument is played like the laud plays, the lower notes in accompaniments and in unison with the bass notes.