The guittern was a five-course, sometimes permanently fretted instrument that used gut strings and was played either with a pick, or the bare fingers. The body shape was in varying patterns, but the most common seemed to be a lot like a modern violin. Like the modern violin, or mandolin, it tended to have a movable bridge and a tailpiece to fasten the strings, though the strings were sometimes fastened to a bridge like the Lute's, with no saddle. The string courses are tuned in unisons, usually, but sometimes may be found tuned in octaves like the modern 12-string guitar. The soundboard was flat, with no angle below the bridge.
It MAY have some relation to the citole which had four or (rarely) five courses made of wire, and a VERY small body. Sometimes it's courses were tripled, like the modern TIPLE.
Wire strings, whether of brass, steel or silver, seem to have come into use in about the 13th Century.

The lute was first introduced into Spain as the “Oud” by the Arabs and became the instrument par excellence of the Spanish-Muslim culture. Its bulging body was covered with five metal strings, but through the Middle Ages and the use of Christian hands the design was adapted to the European style and increased the number of orders for centuries later.

Thanks to musical mixture and the exchanging of instruments that took place between the medieval Hispanic cultures, the soft and exquisite sound of the lute also triumphed in the Christian kingdoms, especially during the fifteenth century.

At that time was set the foundation for the plucking technique, but unfortunately, increasing religious prejudices against everything that had an Eastern flavour produced an abrupt stop to its evolution and reduced its presence in Spain. Fortunately, the arrival of the Arabic lute to Europe allowed the lute to continue develop artistically and from the Renaissance period become the preferred stringed instrument for chamber music by the aristocracy.

 

Rabab is a very ancient instrument found primarily in Afghanistan but in India is common in Kashmir. It is a hollowed-out body of wood with a membrane stretched over the opening. Combinations of gut (or nylon) and metal strings pass over a bridge which rests on a taught membrane. The rabab is mentioned quite frequently in old texts. However this is usually the seni rabab which is different from what we think of today. It is common to refer to the modern rabab as the kabuli rabab to distinguish it from the seni rabab.

Although the kabuli rabab is the style that is normally thought of today, over the centuries the term has been applied to a variety of instruments. Therefore as a generic term it has been applied to a variety of instruments that even impinge upon the sarod and the sarangi.

Sehtar or Setouyeh is a three-cord instrument, which was converted into a four-cord instrument under the reign of the Qajars. It is, in general, an ancient and gnostic instrument usually played at the gathering of dervishes most often held at Khaneqahs (monasteries or houses of dervishes), which makes the listener feel high. In view of its special vocal features, Sehtar is known as the instrument appealing to the listener's heart and the Iranian musical instrument ranking second among Iranian musicians. It is simpler than other instruments both in appearance and the method of playing. Its low tune, compactness and tenderness are the main reason for its great appeal in the course of the past centuries. It is made in various types and sizes including large, small, flat and zir-abai. Tars are made in two methods: Turkish (in many pieces) and scraped kasdani (in one piece). Sehtar is generally made from berry wood, while at some occasions that of pear or walnut tree might be used as well. Its bowel is a pear-shaped semi-sphere, while its thin and delicate handle is tenderer than that of other instruments.

The vihuela, as it was known in Spain, was called the viola da mano in Italy andPortugal.[1] The two names are functionally synonymous and interchangeable. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double-strings (paired courses) made of gut. Vihuelas were tuned almost like a modern guitar, with the exception of the third string, which was tuned a semitone lower. Six-course vihuela tuning was identical to six-course Renaissance lute tuning—4ths and mid-3rd (44344). Many consider the vihuela to have been the instrument that decisively influenced the development of the modern guitar.

Plucked vihuela, being essentially flat-backed lutes, evolved in the mid-15th century, in the Kingdom of Aragón (located in north-eastern Iberia (Spain), filling the gap that elsewhere in Europe was taken up by the lute; for the Spanish the lute was too close to the oud. In Spain and Italy the vihuela was in common use by the late 15th through to the late 16th centuries. In the second half of the 15th century some vihuela players began using a bow, leading to the development of the viol.

 If a single instrument were to represent Turkish folk music it would have to be the baglama. There is no region, no village in Anatolia which it not familiar with this string instrument. It is descended from the kopuz, which is frequently mentioned in the sagas of Dede Korkut dating from around the 8th century. The kopuz, a generic name for several forms of string instrument, was being used by the Turkish tribes of Central Asia about two thousand years ago, and was brought to Anatolia by Turkish strolling minstrels from the 10th century onwards. 

Castanets are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Moorish, Ottoman, ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood, although fibreglass is becoming increasingly popular.

In practice a player usually uses two pairs of castanets. One pair is held in each hand, with the string hooked over the thumb and the castanets resting on the palm with the fingers bent over to support the other side. Each pair will make a sound of a slightly different pitch.

The origins of the instrument are not known. The practice of clicking hand-held sticks together to accompany dancing is ancient, and was practised by both the Greeks and the Egyptians. In more modern times, the bones and spoons used in Minstrel show and jug band music can also be considered forms of the castanet.