The tabor pipe consists of a cylindrical tube of narrow bore in a 1/40 diameter/length ratio, pierced with three holes, two in front and one dorsal thumbhole at the back, all very near the end of the pipe. The chromatic scale of this instrument, with no more than three tone holes, is spread across 4 overblown harmonic registers.
One-handed three-holed pipes are known in many parts of the world since Medieval times. Txistus have two finger-holes in front and one thumb-hole in the back. The instruments are designed to be played with one hand, so that the other hand is free to play a tabor-drum, a stringed-tambour, or hurdy-gurdy.
The only difference between a Tabor-Pipe and a Txistu is the diameter and position of the three tone holes and the musical scale resulting from that difference. Both types can produce a contiguous scale of one octave and a fifth, ample range for any folktune! Some people manage to play two 3-hole pipes simultaneously. It is possible to play contiguous scales because the pipes are designed to allow the playing of a series of five or more harmonics, using the three tone-holes only for filling in those notes that are not part of the harmonic series.
