Beschreibung

"Rebab" (and other variant spellings) is the name for chiefly these 3 types of bowed/plucked string instrument families:

• Large, short necked boatshaped "sarinda" type, here the kabuli rebab.
• Small, long necked spike fiddle "huqyin" type, here the Indonesian rebab.
• various sizes, varying necklength, pearshaped "Cretan lyra" type, here the bowed lutes proper.

Given the name cross-overs they are confused with eachother in most sources. Curiously, this cross-over confusion extends to related but separately or similarly named instruments as well, for example Ghijak (a spikefiddle) and Ghaychak (a boat-shaped).
It is, for the meantime, unknown how, if at all, these 3 subtypes are related.

For the spike fiddle used in gamelan, see Indonesian rebab.
For the plucked, boat-shaped Afghani instrument also know as kabuli rabab, see rubab.
For the medieval Indian plucked lute see Seni rebab.
For the medieval European pear-shaped fiddle see rebec.