Both are used in at least some current Baroque orchestras. One of the Baroque orchestras that came through Seattle in the last few years (I don't recall which one) had a bass player who played a three string bass. He even brought it out after the concert and let folks try it out. As a former (modern) string bass player, it's an odd experience playing one with only three strings.
We also had a baroque orchestra come through several years ago with a fretted string bass. I think it had five strings, although I couldn't see it very clearly from where I sat. I didn't get a chance to try it out, unfortunately. -----Original Message----- From: Eugene C. Braig IV [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 8:54 AM To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: [Viols] question about the viola da gamba At 12:42 PM 3/15/2007, you wrote: >Neill Vanhinsberg wrote: > > > It's a viol. Descended from the violone. > >The double bass section of a modern orchestra is something of a racial >melting pot. Some instruments have violin bodies while others have the >slope-shouldered viol form. Post-baroque basses have historically >taken a number of forms. Two centuries ago there were versions with >three strings and five strings. Even one (or at least ca. 1.25) century ago in some cases. I believe Bottesini (1821-1889) often played 3-string versions. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
