Spike fiddle

Spike fiddle, jozé 'nut' with bow, rosin and case. The resonator of the fiddle is a section of a coconut, with a hole cut out from the centre. A skin soundtable (probably the amniotic sac of a goat) is stretched over the hole and over the entire exterior surface of the resonator; its edges are stuck onto the underside. Wooden crescent shaped bridge. A metal spike pierces the resonator diametrically and is fixed to the distal end of the tubular wooden neck of sheeshim wood (probably Dalbergia sissoo). The neck is surmounted by a turned wooden finial. 4 pegs of sheeshim wood of violin-peg design are set laterally into the peg box. 4 strings of graduated thicknesses, the treble string of wire, the 3 lower strings overwound with wire. A forked metal string-holder with four tines is soldered to the metal spike. Signed by Muhammed Fadel Husseini, Baghdadi lute maker, who stated that he made the instrument, and that it was tuned like a violin. With outcurved bow of sheeshim wood with nylon strings.