Also known as the gimbri, this is a 3-stringed skin-covered spike lute or fiddle used by the Gnawa people of Morocco. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body carved from a single piece of wood and covered on the playing side with camel skin. The camel skin has the same acoustic function as the membrane on a banjo. The long neck is a simple stick which passes through the top of the body and runs under the face, coming out through the skin near the base of the instrument, to serve as a tailpiece or string-carrier.

The sintir has one short and two long strings of camel gut that produce a percussive sound similar to a pizzicato cello or double bass. The strings are plucked downward with the knuckle side of the index finger and the inside of the thumb. The hollowed canoe-shaped wooden body resonates a percussive tone created by knuckles slapping the camel neck top of the body while the thumb and index finger are plucking the strings. The lowest string on the sintir is a drone note and the second string, the highest in pitch, is tuned an octave higher and is never fretted. The third string is tuned a fourth above the drone.

The buzzing sound often heard emanating from the sintir is caused by metal rings dangling off of a galvanized metal feather mounted on the end of the sintir's neck. The feather and rings vibrate in rhythm with the sintir. The sliding leather tuning rings and the rattle-like metal sound modifier are commonly found in such West African instruments as the kora and the xalam. The percussive playing style is reminiscent not only of West African technique but also of certain styles of American banjo picking.

It is likely that the instrument derives from similar skin-covered lutes of the region around Mali or other areas of the Sahel (such as the n'goni and xalam).