I'm noticing a lot of 6 string guitars that have tiny twiddly bits on the end... that can't be right!
I can't believe you don't know what those are!
They're called "Trebles", and are sort of educational toys to help teach music to small children. Imagine a baby half-scale bass guitar, with ridiculously thin strings to make it easier for little hands to play.
The two extra strings you found so funny work kind of like training wheels on a bycicle; when the child has learned the basics they're not necessary anymore and can be taken right off, leaving the remaining four strings in standard EADG tuning. In the wrong octave, though.
Of course, by that time it's probably a good idea to graduate to a proper bass guitar. As the name implies, the Treble's tiny scale and flimsy strings result in a shrill, high-pitched tone, not unlike a Chihuahua's bark compared to that of a full-sized dog. And the string spacing is so small that proper fingerstyle techniques are almost impossible, making the use of a pick practically mandatory. Imagine the trouble when switching to a real bass guitar!
It's because of this that Trebles have become obsolete and are a relatively unknown curiosity nowadays, and you've never heard of them. But at one point it was considered normal to be a Treble player before upgrading to Bass. Some pretty famous bassists actually started as
treblists, including Carol Kaye and even Paul McCartney!
So there you go. Hope I helped clear your confusion about those funny, vaguely bass-like-but-not-quite objects. There's something new to learn everyday!
