'Contraption'

a kind of double-violin, consisting of a violin body and a viola body (?or 2 violin bodies) joined together one on top of the other with turned wooden bars, 2 on one side, 1 on the other, a bar at the end, and at the head with iron plates; one has a scroll and pegbox for 8 strings and fingerboard; the other a solid crudely shaped neck and head, back to front, no fingerboard, but a tailpiece for 4 strings; holes in the end-bar show that both originally had tailpieces; the remaining one is of 18c form, through-tied to the endpin; each body has a thick plate of wood inside halfway between belly and back, with sound-holes hacked out. One body has a piece cut away