The Salaw is a folk musical instrument of the Northern Region. The sound box is made of half of a coconut shell, similar to the Saw U of the Central Region. The sound box is covered with a thin sheet of wood instead of leather. The bow (Kan Chak) is made of hard wood, about 70 centimeters long. The strings of the bow are made of horsetail hair or small nylon strings. When playing the instrument, the bow is separated from the body of the Salaw. Normally the Salaw has 2 strings made of metal wire. There are 2 tuning pegs which are slanted inserted into the neck (Kan Tuan). The body and the neck of the Salaw are usually carved with decorative motifs.
         Documentary records reveal that this kind of instrument was mentioned in the folkloric poem “Klong Nirat Hariphunchai” as the Thalaw (ธะล้อ). It was assumed that the name of the instrument came from the Khmer language, Taraw (ทรอ), which was read as Saw (ซอ) by people of the Central Region, but the people of Lanna read the word in 2 syllables as Taraw –Thalaw – Salaw. At present there are 3 sizes of the Salaw that are played: the Salaw Luang, the Salaw Glang and the Salaw Lek. However, the Salaw Luang and the Salaw Glang are more widely used, while the Salaw Lek is not so widely used.
         The Salaw Luang: The neck (Kan Tuan) is about 75-80 centimeters. The face of the Salaw is about 13-14 centimeters wide. The style for playing the Salaw Luang is not so fanciful. The pitches are tuned in the same way as the Salaw Lek but lower. The strings are tuned to the 4th interval, with the low pitch string tuned to the western ‘Sol’ pitch, and the high pitch string tuned to the western high ‘Do’ pitch.
         The Salaw Glang: The neck (Kan Tuan) is about 70-75 centimeters. The face of the Salaw is about 12 centimeters wide. The style for playing the Salaw Glang is in harmony with the Salaw Luang and the Salaw Lek. Generally in the Salaw-Saw-Seung ensembles the Salaw Glang is used to start and lead the songs. The strings are tuned to the 3rd interval, with the low pitch string tuned to the western low ‘Do’ pitch, and the high pitch string tuned to the western ‘Sol’ pitch.
         The Salaw Lek: The neck (Kan Tuan) is about 65-70 centimeters. The face of the Salaw is about 10 centimeters wide. The style for playing the Salaw Lek is fairly fanciful. It produces small sharp sounds in harmony with the Salaw Glang. The strings are tuned to the 4th interval, with the low pitch string tuned to the western ‘Sol’ pitch, and the high pitch string tuned to the western high ‘Do’ pitch.
         Generally the Salaw is played together with the Seung in the Salaw-Seung ensemble, which mainly uses the string instruments to produce musical sounds. This kind of ensemble is widely played in most northern localities. A number of instruments in an ensemble are not fixed, but the Salaw and the Seung are always the main instruments.
         Other instruments that are included in the ensemble are the Pii Koy or the Klui, the Glong Pong Pohng, the Ching and the Chaap. Usually this kind of ensemble is used to play songs with no singing. However, it can also play songs with the singing voice. At present it can be used to play the modern style songs such as country songs (Pleng Luk-tung).