The viol , viola da gamba (Italian: [ˈvjɔːla da (ɡ)ˈɡamba]), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings … See more

Vihuelists began playing their flat-topped instruments with a bow in the second half of the 15th century. Within two or three decades, this led to the evolution of an entirely new and dedicated bowed string instrument … See more

Viols most commonly have six strings, although many 16th-century instruments had only four or five strings, and during the 17th century in France, some bass viols featured a seventh lower string. Viols were (and are) st… See more