Prystrunky (, sg. приструнок) is a term used for the additional unfretted strings strung across the body of Ukrainian folk instruments such as the ''

kobza The kobza (), also called bandura () is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family (Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobza'' however, has also been applied to ...

bandura A bandura ( ) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian plucked string instrument, plucked-string folk-instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often called a kobza. Early instruments () had 5 to 12 strings and ...

'', and ''

torban The torban (, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute known as the theo ...

''. Prystrunky means "near the strings". These additional strings are thought to have appeared on these instruments as early as the 17th century. Others{{who, date=November 2021 feel that these additional strings appeared later in the mid to late 18th century. On the contemporary bandura they are now the main strings on which the performer plays, and are similar to the super treble strings on a

harp guitar The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...

''Kobza''

The traditional Ukrainian ''

'' had several strings (from 2 to 7), which were plucked like a harp, in contrast to strings that were pressed against the neck, as when playing a

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

. Due to the neck (and some modern and traditional designs even have a neck with frets, such as the kobza of Pavlo Konoplenko-Zaporozhets), which allowed the game to be played in several keys, a few strings were not necessary in principle to reproduce the melody. Therefore, there were always not very many of them, much less than in banduras, and some modern designs do not contain pods at all. The original kobza also did not contain any impurities.

''Bandura''

In ''

'', the playing of both basses and strings is conducted in a harp-like manner. Each string plays only one sound and the tonality (while playing) cannot be changed. Therefore, to fully reproduce the melody, it needs more strings – at least 14–16 strings (in total), of which 4–6 are on the fretboard. At the same time, unlike the kobza, the melody is performed by the strings, and the strings on the neck are used as basses. Kobzarstvo String instrument construction * History of musical instruments