Instrument questions.

[BIGMamaSloth]

I'm building my first bard and I was wondering if different kinds of instruments have any difference between each other mechanics wise. Is it just fluff difference whether I'm playing the fiddle or the lute?

[Cog]

Mostly. A few prestige classes and feats require a certain kind of perform, but even then the categories are broad enough to include a number of instruments. A fiddle and a lute would both be Perform: String Instrument, for example.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If you get Complete Adventurer, there's rules for mastercrafted instruments that have mechanical advantages.

There's a couple, for instance, that grant a +1 to your Inspire Courage.

[tyckspoon]

There's the masterwork instruments as mentioned, there's a few magical instruments that require a particular skill to play (Drums of Whatever, the line of magical lutes/citherns/whatever, Pipes of X-ing), but for practical purposes the main difference in instruments is how occupied you are to play them. Perform (Sing) is not only a classic, it has the very practical benefit that it doesn't occupy your hands, whereas you'll be hard-pressed to find a string instrument that doesn't require both hands to play (you might be able to get away with one hand if you can rig some kind of shoulder-strap/back harness to hold the thing.) That's a pretty big consideration if you intend to do anything in a combat other than "I Inspire Courage. I keep playing."

[Treblain]

If you're worried about picking the wrong perform skill, there's a feat, I think it's Versatile Performer, that makes multiple perform skill ranks equal to your highest.

[faceroll]

Snowflake Wardance and Echo Crystal Blade require ranks in different performs. It's actually kind of a bummer that all the bard op requires like 20 odd points in different performs.