"This handcarved acoustic instrument comes from the mind of French luthier Pierre-Marie Chateauneuf. The instrument is a hybrid between the oud and guitar and was designed to give guitarists access to Eastern sounds with the playability of a more familiar instrument. It has a spruce top with a soundhole, just like an acoustic guitar, and an African mahogany and padauk body and neck. The ebony fretboard is fretless with padauk fret markers. There are 11 strings, with the top five doubled either in unison or an octave higher. "