When I accompanied a mandolin and balalaika player at a local hotel, I borrowed his Seven-string (Strunayoon) and tuned it where the seventh string was the note of low B. This enabled me to stretch my thumb around the neck and cover the seventh string at the first fret which gave me a full open C chord with the low bass note C. I found that this position was movable. I found I could use my thumb to cover the third fret at third position and play a movable D7 chord with a low bass as well. The instrument was strung with nylon strings and I used plastic fingerpicks to employ a brush stroke with the index and occasionally with the second and third right hand fingers for accompaniment. The Russian instrument, (made there) had a brightness and at the same time enough resonance to be loud enough to be heard acoustically when we strolled throughout the tables. This instrument was useful because it didn't require a bass. The low strings did the job.

Frank Hamilton