Viola Da Gamba

The viol or viola da gamba[1] is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Music historians have traditionally related the viol family as descended primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the guitar. Viols are different in several respects from instruments of the violin family, most obviously in the instruments' flat rather than shaped backs