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Bass viola da gamba

ALTERNATE NAME(S)

Bass viol
Bass violin, three-string

Date1540-1750 ca.

Place MadeVenice, Italy, Europe

SignedPrinted on paper label, the last two digits of year written in black ink: David Tecchler Liutaro / Fecit Romæ Anno 1723
DescriptionThis unusual instrument resembles Venetian viols of the sixteenth century, but the unusal three strings, rather than six of the viola da gamba, hints that it may have been a hybrid bass violin or folk instrument. It has a metal loop for the player to suspend it while standing or walking.

Three strings
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: joint on bass third of top; overhangs ribs
Back: one-piece slab cut walnut; bend in upper third of back; heart-shaped patch on upper bass part of back
Ribs: slab-cut walnut; one-piece lower rib; center ribs overlap upper and lower ribs at corners
Head and neck: walnut; single turn of scroll
Arching: flat back with bend
Edging: no recurve on top
Purfling: none
Varnish: dark brown
Fingerboard: walnut; decoratively cut lower end; wedge-shaped; channeled under neck position; relatively flat curve; two filled areas where dowel, nail, or screw went through fingerboard and neck; brass hinged loop affixed to bass side of neck heel
Nut: bone
Tailpiece: brown-painted; key-shaped string holes; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: three boxwood, two matcing with burl and one later; slightly undercut; decoratively turned integral pins
Saddle: oak; set into top; low profile
Endpin: boxwood; once had separate pin, now broken
F-holes: pointed wings; wide stems; no notches
Linings: none
Corner blocks: spruce; convex surfaces
Top block: spruce; two or three iron nails into neck heel
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; wide, crudely carved bar with rounded and triangular profiles

DimensionsTotal bass viola da gamba length: 1208 mm
Back length: 675 mm
Upper bout width: 313 mm
Center bout width: 239 mm
Lower bout width: 347 mm
Upper rib height: 74-121 mm
Center rib height: 119-121 mm
Lower rib height: 118-121 mm
Stop length: 385-425 mm
Vibrating string length: 750-790 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 350 mm

ProvenanceAcquired by Laurence Witten from Giacomo and Leandro Bisiach, Venegono Superiore, Italy, 1968.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesMargaret Downie Banks, “North Italian Viols at the Shrine to Music Museum,” Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, Vol. XXI 1984), pp. 8-10 with photo p. 9.

Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984

Object number03375

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