Strings

The string section or family includes violins, violas, cellos, guitars, basses and harps. In addition, there are ethnic instruments such as the Japanese koto (a kind of zither), Chinese qin, Indian sitar and American dulcimer. The number of strings on an instrument can range from one, in the case of some spike fiddles to twenty or more on harps. 

I have made a variety of stringed instruments myself. Let us begin with those with one string each:

This is either a canjo or a canbass. A canjo is a one string banjo with a soda can resonator or "body". My version has a bass string rather than a guitar or banjo string, hence the lower sound.

Here is a washtub bass, aka a gut bucket. The range of this instrument is about an octave and a half. That's not bad for one string, itself consisting of weed wacker cord. My washtub bass consists of a broom handle, a washtub, weed wacker cord, a hose clamp capo and a pickup.

Here's a one string fiddle or perhaps a sort of guitar, made from a two by four and ice cream container. I actually have a violin bow available but it does not seem to work well with this instrument. I guess I positioned the string too close to the body of the ice cream container for the bow to really work effectively.

Here's a one string bass. That's a food container at the bottom. I was going to use a cookie tin but decided all the metal cutting and other steps would be hazardous so I cheated a bit with the design. Or maybe I didn't cheat but made my own working variation. Anyway, this instrument is a lot of fun to play.