Contrabass Balalaika... Should I?

[Korladis]

I wrote this guy via youtube and that is custom made. I found a company in St. Petersburg that makes 4 string ones but even after a "generous" discount on account of the novelty of my "being American and trying to understand the culture" it came out close to $2000. A 3 string is more like $750.
If I was trying to go professional or made any money out of playing I could see buying the 4 string but as is the wife would never go for it.

That's a huge price difference.

 

[Joebone]

How is the 3-string bass balalaika tuned?

 

[Bunan]

How is the 3-string bass balalaika tuned?

E-A-D like the low strings on a normal bass.

 

[Joebone]

Thanks.

 

[Mixtolov]

hi! I have a Balalaika Contrabass, and i have to say it has been a big discover. I am really happy with it. I am actually thinking of buying a second one. Its a little difficult here in Germany where I live. The only possibility its buy Thomann. But I don´t like this model so much, and i will also want it to buy it with flycase. Maybe you can give some advice.
hier one video of mine, you can see how it sounds. Its just recorded with 2 microphones.

 

[Bunan]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. Due to some medical expenses I wasn't able to get one yet. Even in Moscow they are not the most common but I can find more than just the Thomann model. I am still wondering about a 3 or a 4 string version. There is about a $175 difference in price. I think it is worth it in the long run as I love doing chords and things on my bass.
Again, love the video. Please share more.

 

[VicJ]

Well I hope you do get one; I scored an old Lunacharsky off Ebay some years ago and it's awesome. Someone asked about subcontrabass; I've read that the tuning is the same and it just has a larger body (not sure how authoritative that information is). Anyway the one I have is 47" on the side, but the new ones I see for sale online are 37" (with a shorter scale), so maybe mine is a subcontrabass, I don't know. I do know the thing's loud enough to shake the walls and it looks too cool. They seem to be really hard to come by, but I guess it's a bit easier in Moscow. Good luck!