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. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
