Unusual Instruments

Apache Fiddler
1885

Arpeggione
As played by Berndt Bohman
Swedish Principal Cellist of
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
(Guitar D’amore, Guitar+Violin_Cello)
Made by Osamu Okumura
President Arpeggione Society
Japan

The Arpeggione is a
six-stringed musical instrument,
fretted and tuned like a guitar,
but bowed like a cello,
and thus similar to the
bass viola da gamba.

The Modern -Arpeggione is a
string instrument built by
Osamu Okumura.
It is an acoustic, upright -fretted,
seven string instrument
tuned from a bass G up to E
(half-step below the high E on a guitar).
The body is larger than an acoustic guitar,
with an arched fingerboard
and bridge for bowing or picking.

TogaMan GuitarViol
Jonathan Wilson
Sylmar, California
(Greater Los Angeles Area)
YouTube

Hybrid of Guitar and Bowed-String Instrument
Bowed Guitar Etude

Bowed Guitar Loop

"La Bravura" (non cutaway) and "La Bastarda" (Cutaway)

Preserve America
A Story of Love:
A Master American Craftsman, Inspired by the Beauty of a Tranquil Place, Invents a Musical Instrument with an Historic Past

Artful Violins

Benioff Cello
The Benioff Violin
Digital

The Black Stone Violin

Photo: Jan Olby

Bohemian Violin

Photos Courtesy of Jon C. Mol
Melbourne, Australia

Fourteen pegs: seven playable strings and seven resonating strings
This is probably a 'viola d' amore' - an 18th century south European
stringed instrument belonging to the violin family (not viola)

The bow shown is a modern bow and does not belong with this instrument
Judging from the fact that it has a scroll
(and not a finial or stylised head, human or animal)
means that the dating is likely late 18th century

The complex sound holes probably mean that this instrument is of Bohemian origin

Courtesy of John McVey
Bottle Bell Shawm
Glynn Parry of Bedford Waites Medieval Music Group tests the new Bottle Bell Shawm
made after a carving in Beverley Minster Yorkshire.
He pronounced the instrument a success and added that it was a "nice instrument."
It is in "D" at 430 Hertz.

Cigar Box Fiddle

Creole musician Joseph "Bebe" Carriere of Lawtell, Louisiana, made this fiddle using a cigar box.
South Louisiana
Cigar Box and Wood
Photo: Thomas A. Wintz, Jr.

Joseph "Bebe" Carriere of Lawtell, St. Landry Parish
Photo: Nicholas R. Spitzer

Cigarbox Fiddle
The North American Fiddler's Hall of Fame

Chinese Erhu - Bowed String Instrument

Chocolate Violin
Delice Royal
Ottawa Ontario

Cigarbox Fiddle
The North American Fiddler's Hall of Fame

Crocodile Zither
Mi gyaun (long zither)
Burma, 19th century

Salvador Dali's Violin

Ebay

Dancing Limberjack

©Photo by Paul Jean
Le Bonhomme
Lois Siegel

Dancing Bill

Jig Doll

Les gigueux
Jig Dolls

Dancing Limberjack

Dancing Limberjack
Martin Zak
Old Joe Clark

Limberjack
UK, USA, Canada, Australia

Chris Harvey's Jig Doll Circus

Jean Ritchie - Skip to my Lou
With Pete Seeger

10-String Double Violin
Bethanien Kunstlerhaus
1986

Jon Rose Web

Otto Erdesz
Violin-Viola Maker
with John Newton and Joseph Curtin
violin makers he helped at the
start of their careers

Cut-Away Viola
Allowed much easier access to high positions

Fish Fiddle

"Cornerless" Fiddle

5 String Chinese Viola (recent)
in a Baroque "Testore" Style

From the Collection of Jim Garber

Sievert Copy
by Nick Gent
Daventry, UK

Philippe Guillerm

Wood Sculpture - "Love at First Sight "
Walnut, Maple, Mahogany

Sculpture & Art by Bruce Gray
Distorted Guitar Sculpture
"Jimi's Nightmare"

HARDANGER FIDDLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
The national instrument of Norway.
It's most distinguishing feature is
the four or five sympathetic strings
that run underneath the fingerboard
and add echoing overtones to the sound

Hardingfele
by Olav Lomundal Norway, 1966
National Music Museum

Hardanger Fiddle

Harp Guitar

The Knutsen Archives

Image copyright and courtesy Jeff Carr

One Armed Violin

Chris Knutsen & Family
Harp Guitar

Acoustic Instrumental Christmas Carol
c.1915 Dyer Harp Guitar by Gregg Miner
YouTube

H'arpeggione
18-string fretted 'cello/guitar

Harp-O-Chord

French Hurdy-Gurdy

Helmut Gotschy
Hurdy-Gurdy Maker

Huiras Instruments Internationale

Viola by Carleen Hutchins
Montclair, New Jersey
1953

Viola Da Gamba
Peter Hütmannsberger

Hyperviolin
©Photo by Eric Jensen

Icelandic Fidla

Intonarumori

Luigi Russolo (left)
Italian futurist painter and musical composer
and his assistant Ugo Piatti
1913

Listen to the sound of Intonarumori

Kamancheh
Chief Persian Bowed Instrument

©Photo by Tasic Dragan
Kayhan Kalhor

Aleksander Kolkowski - Portrait in Shellac

Maggini Violin
History

Manzer Guitars

Pikasso I
42-string guitar
used by Pat Metheny

Matchstick Violin
Created by Jack Hall
Courtesy of his son Tony Hall
Additional Photographs

Glen Campbell playing

the Guinness World Record 1937 Matchstick Guitar
followed by public performances
by The Matchsticoustic Men
YouTube

American Musical Instrument Society Newsletter
Yehudi Menuhin
Page 17

Mayuri
Northern India
19th century
This peacock is a bowed, stringed instrument with movable frets, four principal strings,
and fifteen sympathetic strings.

©Photo by Lois Siegel
Montreal World Film Festival, 2002
Performance by musicians
from Inner Mongolia

Moodswinger

Dutch Craftsman Yuri Landman

Bassotto
Italian Luthiers Francesco Arecco
and Paolo Raiteri
Note that the f holes
are in the shape of dachshunds

Canotto Upright Acoustic Bass
Pizzicato-Only Instrument
R.M. Mottola
Liutaio Mottola

Libellula Electric Upright Bass
Wearable electric upright bass
R.M. Mottola
Liutaio Mottola

Foot Bass
"Basse aux pieds"
Popular Instrument Early 20th Century
Invented by Mr. Joseph Alexandry, Namur, Belgium and patented in 1894

Mouth Bow
Buffy Sainte-Marie & Pete Seeger
Demonstration

How to Play the Mouth Bow

Musical Bow

Ornately Decorated Violin Attributed
to Honoré Derazey
National Music Museum

Norwegian Folk Fiddle

Martine Chiasson
Nyckelharpa

The Orpheon Foundation
Museum of Historical Musical Instruments

Pamela's Unusual Violins

Paper Bag
Martin Zak

Laura Pharis

Tim Phillips
U.K.

Phonofiddle

Piano Stairs
Stockholm, Sweden

Pig Fiddle
Made in England c.1850

Pochette

A dancing master's kit, made c 1780

Menzies Stringed Instruments

Jeff Menzies
Pig Pochette
Pochette pocket fiddle

Guy Rabut Violin Maker
New York City

V68 - A Harp-Built-For-Two

Random Sound Musical Instruments
Luthier Don Peddle
Ottawa

YouTube

Romanian Artistic Instruments

Gliga Violins USA

Photos by Peter Schug
Violin by José Sánchez, Germany

Asya Schween
"He's Mine!"
Kodak Endura Metallic Type-C
Print 12" x 17"

Shruti Box
Sruiti Box

Courtesy of John McVey
Shuttlefiddle
John McVey, Felmersham, England, noticed the similarity of pochettes (dancing-master's fiddles) and the shape of a weaving shuttle. His friend, John Westland had a smashed violin in his workshop and a weaving shuttle. John McVey put them together to create a Shuttlefiddle.
It sounds just like a violin if used with a pickup and amplifier.

Iner Souster
Toronto, Canada

Bowafridgeaphone

Listen to the Bowafridgeaphone & Bungee Bass

Bungee Cord Bass

The Fat Body Fiddle

Spoons

Spoons Improvisation by Tran Quang Hai

Meeting Of 2 Kings Of Spoons
Roger Mason Tran Quang Hai

Australia's Got Talent

Strange Fiddle

Straw Beating
aka Fiddlesticks
(Chinese Chopsticks)
Featuring Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine
"Sandy Boys"
Straw Beating was found in Colonial America:
Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, Tennessee from about 1880 to 1920

Martin Zak & Radek Spindler

Tim Eriksen: Fiddlesticks on Mt. Pollux

Stroh Violin

Stroh with Two Horns

Stroh Violin

Trapezoidal Fiddle
Felix Savart 1819

Tromba Marina

Trumpet Fiddle

Hammacher Schlemmer

Trumpet Harmonica

Twisted Sisters
by Joe Martin

I have always admired violins that are
non-standard. It may be they are a refreshing diversion from the glut of normal violins. For years I have been trying to come up with something unique myself.

One thought was to build a violin with
the neck attached backwards at the lower or wider bought end. The instrument would look drastically different. I speculated that it would
be harder to play than a standard instrument.
Its string length would need to be shorter
to place the bridge between
the F-hole notches.

While thinking about the possibilities of flip-flopping the directions of the boughts,
I came up with the idea of only switching one side. The thought then came to mind, why not dismantle two identical violins and reassemble them with opposite sides. I do not recall ever seeing a violin constructed in such a manor. To me it seems obvious that someone must have thought of or tried this at one time.
Basically the design can be drawn using a standard half-violin template without
flipping it over to draw the entire violin outline.

Joe Martin

I drew the instruments and found their
f-hole configurations to be amusing.
One violin would be a left and one a right.
I thought one would need to be assembled
as a left hand violin. The bridge placement appeared to be a problem; one side would set exactly on top of an f-hole. This wasn't enough
to deter me. I proceeded with the experiment.

My first challenge was to find two violins exactly the same. We carry Samuel Shen instruments at our shop. I happened to have
two that looked very similar. The only
difference was that the wood of their backs
have slightly contrasting grain characteristics.
I proceeded to dismantle the instruments.
Taking apart two perfectly healthy
instruments was an unnerving challenge.
I was delighted to find that the four plates
had consecutive serial numbers
printed on them, which indicated they were made at the same time.

After putting all of my violin repair
abilities to the test I came up with two good sounding violins. I was surprised when they sounded normal. They actually sound
as good as or better than the other
regularly-shaped violins in my shop.

Mop Top Jane

©Photo by Tom Robertson
Ugly Stick
Created by Lois Siegel
with the assistance of Paul Jean

Lois and the Ugly Stick
Video by Lisa Connell
Filmed at the Grand Masters Fiddling Championship
By-the-Canal Fiddle Camp
Piano: Troy MacGillivray
Accordion: Joey Dziok

©Photo by Lois Siegel

Traditional Newfoundland Instrument
Parts: mop, rubber boot, bells, bottle caps, horns,
aluminum pie tin, grooved stick or drumstick

©Photo by Paul Jean
Lois Siegel and The Ugly Stick

The instrument is lifted and dropped on the floor
in time with the music, while the musicians strikes the attachments
with a grooved stick or drumstick.

Vasser Clements' Fiddle

Viola d'Amour

The instruments pictured above were made
in 1772 (?) and 1783
by Tomaso (Thomas) Eberle,
an Italian maker of Austrian ancestry
who is considered a follower of
the Gagliano school

Viola di Pardone (Baryton)

Essentially, the Baryton is a viola da gamba with six or seven strings
but with many thin metal strings running under the fingerboard.
These can be plucked with the thumb of the left hand while the other strings are bowed.