Khil-khuur

Khil-khuur (in the written language: kill kugur), Mongolian *spike fiddle with trapezoid body tapering upward, membrane belly, slender neck, 2 thick horsehair strings, lateral pegs, and a pegbox often carved in shape of a horse's head. Soundholes, usually circular, are cut in the back, which, like the belly, is of hide. Among some tribes the body is circular. The strings are attached to the stubby projection of the spike and are tuned a 5th apart; their pitch can be raised somewhat by inserting…