Hear a Tromba Marina

[Enthalpy]

Just in case someone doesn't know what a tromba marina is (ok, nearly everybody should ignore that, as the instrument was abandoned before the baroque era):
the bowed string instrument has a special bridge called guidon, just in equilibrium so one foot hits the soundboard at each vibration cycle to produce a loud strident sound resembling a trumpet.
Tromba_marina and Schnarrsteg on Wiki
Being a historic curiosity, it's mostly played by people who invested little time to learn it without a professor, but here's one good audio record. Yes, that's a string instrument.
wlBolbo24Rc on Youtube. Enjoy this rare sound!

[Enthalpy]

The horn violin, or Strohviolin, or in other languages vioară cu goarnă and Stroh hegedű, isn't so common depending on where you live. I heard only one in real life.

The instrument replaces the soundbox by a metal membrane and a horn or two. The sound tends to be very tinny and narrow, but some instruments are less bad in this aspect, possibly the ones built by Stroh with a wider horn. Examples:
sU2MZseFzYs?t=169 (should jump to 2:50) - Y82pYGUSMI8
and here also a cello and a bass
5yNqBES1yXc

I wouldn't give up a true violin for that, but it's fun.

[Enthalpy]

An other good record of tromba marina
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[ewomack]

A builder/luthier called "Unprofitable Instruments" builds Tromba Marinas, as well as other, well, "unprofitable" pre-baroque instruments. They even own the domain "trombamarina."

Link: http://www.trombamarina.com/instruments/tromba-marina (it looks like I may not have the ability to post links yet).

The bottom of the page above includes audio files of the site owner playing a tromba marina with a high school orchestra.

You can get one made for $5000.

I always wanted to learn rebec, but time continues to be a scarce commodity.

Edited July 18, 2020 by ewomack