Its a MANDOLA

Halt nooded, acknowledgging the point. "Aren't you forgetting that there are different types of jonleurs?" He said. "Some of them are simple minstrels."
"And you play that lute of yours quite well, Halt tells me," Crowley put in. Will looked at him, the confusion growing.
"It's a mandola," he said. "It has eight strings, tuned in pairs. A lute has ten strings with some of them acting as drones..."
--
Poor Will, no one can tell the difference between a lute, and a mandola. Much to Wills frusteration. But not the real one, this is from one of my favorite book series. Rangers Apprentice. Will has to take a place of a jonleur, or a traveler, instead of his normal position, a Ranger. This was from the fifth book, which I've finished a long time ago. I'm on the new sixth one now. I can't wait to read the whole thing.^^
Rangers Apprentince (c) John Flanagan