Double Neck Contrabass Guitar
These Double Neck Contrabass Guitars and Harp Guitars are of the early 19th Century.
These guitars have an extra neck to support the additional strings. They varied from 9 strings to 13 strings typically. Although the extra neck exists for the low bass strings, they are played only as open bass strings.
These guitars were known as Contrabass / Contra-bass guitars, and later evolved into the harp guitar. The Contra bass guitar is still used in Viennese traditional folk music ("Schrammel Music").
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| Shown are in order:
1. A rare Viennese Contrabass guitar from ca. 1840, with floating bass strings, similar to the Reis example. 2. A 12 string double neck harp guitar. 3. An original Schertzer 11 String: a 6-string neck with an extra 5-strings for bass notes. 4. A 13-string adaptation of Schertzer by Bernhard Kresse, also based on 19th century harp guitars. |