The of the was made for the tradition and only for blind men. Women could not play the instrument in the professional world, nor were they allowed to teach it. With the relief of the rule, women started to playing the , but not the because it was designed for the blind which led to a decline in use; other proved more useful. The two main varieties still used today are the and . These two have relatively stayed the same with the exception of material innovations like plastic and the type of strings. The is the newest addition to the family, surfacing in the 19th century, it was purposefully created to access a wider range of sound and advance style of play; these were made with 17, 21, and 31 strings.