August Fredin, a well known expert on folk music from Gotland wrote the following about the violins of the fiddle playing brothers in Grodda: "To strengthen the sound they had so called understrings of metal inside the violin". There is also an article from 1953 about these brothers by a Ture Carlsson. He writes that "Lars usually played the melody on violin, Anders played clarinett and Jaken played second voice on his so called hardanger fiddle. That was a standard violin on which an extra pegbox was attached and equipped with four strings underneath the fingerboard which made the sound richer. The father, "Grodd-Ole" played second voice on violin or hurdy-gurdy".
I do not have more information than this but it would be interesting to know if there is a connection to the two supposed double-deckers with 6 sympathetic strings found on Gotland. Carlsson states that they had 4 sympathetic strings so it is most likely not the same instrument.
Name | Groddafiolerna |
Type | Reference |
Luthier | |
Year | |
Origin | |
Found in | Grodda, Gotland |
Playing strings | |
Sympathetic strings |