16-String, Steel, Exposed Tuning

This zheng was purchased around 1985 in an industrial city outside Taipei, Taiwan, before being brought to Canada. It spent most of its years in storage and is visually in excellent condition. 

It has 16 steel strings, two of them being bass strings wound in copper. Its fixed bridges are both straight. Instead of a hinged compartment holding tuning pins, this instrument's head is just part of the frame. The tuning pins are actually posts on the tail of the instrument. A wooden handle is needed to turn them; that is what is attached to the case's lid. Taken together with the instrument's straight backboard, it appears this instrument was built in an older style, but there is much yet to learn. Have you seen anything like this? Let me know!

Photographed by GZA in 2017. Used with permission of owner.