Baglama Saz Turc à Manche Long en Noyer ASL-202

I have many instruments. Including five unplayable bagpipes (reed issues) and four button accordions. I have two fiddles, one a hardanger fiddle, for which I paid a pretty penny.I like them all, but I LOVE my saz. It arrived intact because of the genius packaging. Turkish craftsmanship is top flight. No detail is left undone. It's as if they really care. I think they do.In America, anything less than 300 bucks is plywood. But my Turkish saz has a walnut soundbowl, spruce top and mahogany neck. The satin finish isn't as slippery as a high sheen, which is helpful to the newby who is trying to play it. The saz is a bitch to hold. The inlayed interval markings should've been put on the left side of the neck, where the player could see them. Nevermind. I've put masking tape markers to facilitate playing positions.I'm astounded by the sound of this instrument. The soundboard is unbroken by a soundhole, but one is provided which exits at the ass end of the instrument. A second soundhole faces the player; swivel the gate to enhance the bass. A piezo pickup is glued underneath the bridge. I plugged in an amp and shredded Pulp Fiction.The string length is long and easy on the fingertips. The tuning is AGD. It seems counterintuitive until you do Greek, Italian and Turkish songs.The 90° positioning of the tuning pegs is so you can lay the neck on a flat surface and press down while tuning. These are friction tuners. (Imagine the hell of tuning this instrument if the pegs were opposed, as with a violin)A curiousity is the cursive scrollwork on the soundhole. Is the first letter a "d" or an "o"? An "o" makes more sense, since blending the vowels of OEST would make "West". So I am your target audience.This may be an "entry" level instrument, but for a guy my age I won't need any other.

Medium quality

My instrument arrived very quickly and nicely packaged. It sounds even better than I thought!

Firstly, this Saz is beautiful....love the matte finish. Secondly....wow!!!....we ordered it on May 20th....and it was at our door on May 23rd....from Istanbul!! Order from Sala Music with confidence.

The company replaced this long neck baglama for me with a short neck baglama. It was my mistake that I ordered the wrong instrument, but they kindly allowed me to return it. The new short-neck baglama is just exactly what I wanted. It is a very good quality instrument for the money (as was the long-neck version). And I enjoyed doing business with Sala Muzik as they went out of their way to make sure I got what I wanted and in a timely fashion. I appreciate them very much.