What's the wackiest stringed instrument you've ever seen?

[underwhelmist]

I saw Les Triaboliques - Justin Adams, Lu Edmonds and Ben Manelson. Lu had an array of weird instruments, the weirdest was a cumbus (can't do the accents on here, pronounced something like zhumbush). He described it as a 12 string fretless banjo and unsurprisingly said it was quite difficult to play. In the picture below Lu is holding a Saz, apparently.

 

[bassfran]

The Mike Miller Foot Bass. 2 stringed slab thing that sits on the floor. I did a thread on it 10 years (!) ago but am on my phone, don’t know how to linky.

 

[HaphAsSard]

Here's better pictures of Allen Woody's Modulus 18 string bass:
Modulus — 12-String Bass Encyclopedia

Always great to see this beast.

Here's an acoustic, piccolo Mini-It, the viola da Terceira (specifically, the 18-string/6-course version thereof):

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Viola da Terceira - Wikipedia

 

[Ductapeman]

For some reason the giant red bass balalaika that the Red Elvises used to drag around just cracks me the hell up, no idea why

 

[Killing Floor]

Winner. Thread solved.

 

[Blues Daddy]

 

[Nev375]

They say Jaco only needed 4 strings. But Les only needed one on his whamola.

 

[HaphAsSard]

The Mike Miller Foot Bass. 2 stringed slab thing that sits on the floor. I did a thread on it 10 years (!) ago but am on my phone, don’t know how to linky.

The Mike Miller Foot Bass

The late Canadian musician Steve Puto might have found it the ideal complement to his...thing:

From the bottom: bass, guitar, 5-string banjo, single-course mandolin, fiddle, harmonica. Funnily enough, he didn't actually make nor modify it: he found it, used and already like that, in a friend's music shop, and bought it.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/5-neck-guitar-stars-in-calgary-collection-1.888739

(Also funny - to me at least - I've a buddy who's proficient at all of those appendices, and could do the instrument justice if he ever got to play it.)

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

This "Octobass" seems quite unusual. You need levers to fret the low notes. I'd love to hear one!

 

[bassfran]

The Mike Miller Foot Bass

The late Canadian musician Steve Puto might have found it the ideal complement to his...thing:

From the bottom: bass, guitar, 5-string banjo, single-course mandolin, fiddle, harmonica. Funnily enough, he didn't actually make nor modify it: he found it, used and already like that, in a friend's music shop, and bought it.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/5-neck-guitar-stars-in-calgary-collection-1.888739

(Also funny - to me at least - I've a buddy who's proficient at all of those appendices, and could do the instrument justice if he ever got to play it.)

Thanks!

 

[Bassinthemudd]

 

[Michedelic]

Perhaps not the wackiest, but some of the most unique, and rarest…

If you’ve never heard of Harry Partch, he was a fascinating American outsider/avant-garde composer, and instrument builder…
Harry Partch - Wikipedia

While he focused more on concocting percussion instruments, he came up with several variations on traditional strings. The University of Washington curates all of his one of a kind creations, and a few years ago took them on the road, to be performed on with his altered-scale pieces. I saw one such performance.

 

[mikewalker]

 

[J Wilson]

For me, Gibson SG/EB basses . . . . but I suppose THIS Gibson will have to do. I wait eagerly for a reissue Murphy Lab version with P90's . . . .

Link Removed

. . . . or this no-pedal Gibson doubleneck steel, with Charlie Christian pickups.

I'm really trying not to dredge up the EB's with the built-in 'fuzz'.

 

[Carl Hillman]

Linda Manzer's "Picasso":

That looks like a bluegrass band that was in a Star Trek transporter accident.

 

[Starthief]

The Yaybahar. Two cello strings, and a resonator made of long sloppy springs and frame drums.

 

[jazzyvee]

Linda Manzer's "Picasso":

I'm fairly sure Pat Metheney had/has one of these.

 

[BlueTalon]

This 15 string monstrosity

View attachment 4864548 View attachment 4864549

That cracks me up every time I see it!

 

[Diminishedfilth]

A fretted Violin.

 

[Tom Kinter]

I'd never heard of the Theorbo until I encountered this painting by Meisonnier...