The La Bella ML450 Laud 12-string set features plain steel and silver-plated wound strings in six courses for the laud. The laud is a tenor-pitched member of the Spanish cittern family and is tuned one octave lower than the Bandurria. It’s a large flat-backed pear-shaped instrument with origins tracing back to the 12th century when the Arabic influence left its musical mark on the Iberian Peninsula.