The saz is the most important Turkish folk instrument and is widely popular. A descendant of the ancient tambur-e-Khorsan, the saz has the additional frets needed to play the correct intervals used in Turkish folk music, sometimes called “1/4 tones”. These frets are tied on and can be moved for different modes if needed. Played with a small pick, the saz is a melodic instrument and comes in several sizes. The smallest is the cura, and the most common size is the baglama, which is much larger than the tiny Greek baglama. Indeed, the saz is one of the ancestors of the modern Greek bouzouki. Saz bodies are either carved from one piece of wood, or are built of staves like a mandolin or oud. Sazes are usually tuned in 5ths, and the music is written as if the tuning is GDA; many other tunings are used, but EDA, F#DA and a few others are most common. The actual pitch may be somewhat higher depending on the neck, so that the actual tuning may be AEB, BbFC, etc. If the neck is short enough, CGD is common. There are also options of stringing, the most common having the G and A strings set up with octave courses. Any saz with 7 pegs can be set up for this tuning. Some sazes are set up with single strings; the set-up is the choice of the player.
