The body is made of wood. It is long and narrow, and has a convex surface. It is covered in ornate inlaid with mother-of-pearl. There are moveable bridges used for tuning and support. The bridges are made of wood. The strings are made of steel and have varying widths. They are tuned to the pentatonic scale. Artists usually wear picks made of metal, plastic, or tortoise-shell to pluck the strings. With case.
The dan thap luc or dan tranh most used today has 17 strings. This instrument has a three-octave range, from C to C3. The dan tranh is similar to the Chinese guzheng (Chinese zheng is the same character as tranh), Japanese koto and the Korean kayagum.