Bones and castanets are a form of clapper instrument composed of a pair of hollowed out wooden faces bound by a cord.
Bones were an ancient form of percussion instrument, and have been used as a dance accompaniment in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. However, the form of bones known as castanets were developed in Spain.
In Spanish Dancing with castanets, two pairs are used. The left hand plays the "male" lower pitched set, the right the higher pitched "female".
In Elanthia, bones are much more common than castanets. Every bard is recommended to have a pair, as they are one of the few instruments that can be played with one hand. Although, for some reason that no one has really been able to explain, if one hand is dammaged, you still can't play your single-handed instrument with the healthy hand.
Bones are available from True Bard D'Or's Fine Instruments in central Crossing, Zoluren, and Malik the True Bard's Instruments and Picks, Southwestern Shard, Ilithi.
The following customizations are available:
| Oak+250K | Deobar+375K | |
| Lunat+2500K | Ivory-inlaid+1875K | Ebonwood+2500K |
| Black ironwood+12500K | Ash+250K | White ironwood+9375K |
| Maple+125K | Pine+62K | Silverwillow+6250K |
| Crude-125K | Unfinished+37K | Wyndewood+9375K |
| Simple-32K |
| Wren-engraved | Mahogany | Satinwood | Cherrywood |
| Lemonwood | Chestnut | White ash | Lapis-inlaid |
| Gilded | Flower-engraved | Dragon-engraved | Phoenix-painted |
| Night black | Crude | Unfinished | Simple |
| Alder | Basswood | Boxwood | Black ironwood |
| Burlwood | Cherry | Cocobolo | Copperleaf |
| Curly birch | Ebony | Fishtail oak | Hickory |
| Lacewood | Lemonwood | Pearwood | Silver maple |
| Walnut |
| Crafted | Parquet | Inlaid | Lacquered |
| Cutwork | Oiled | Painted | Polished |
| Time-worn | Varnished |