Gudok

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Gudok is an ancient Russian string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. A Gudok usually had 3 strings: 2 of them were tuned in unison, whereas the 3rd was tuned one fifth higher. All 3 strings were placed in the same plane, so a bow could make them all sound simultaneously (unlike a violin, where only 2 strings can be reached at any moment). Sometimes Gudok also had several (up to 8) sympathetic strings under the upper sounding board. These made gudok's sound warm and rich. The nearest relative of gudok is Bulgarian gadulka.

When playing a Gudok an artist held it on his lap like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play gudok while standing and even dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially (in 12th century, and probably before) gudok was played using harmonics only, without pressing strings to instrument's neck. Later (in 14th century and after) some modifications of gudok had a real neck for pressing strings. This modification didn't look very useful, however, since the shape of this instrument was rather specific. A real fingerboard was an obvious borrowing from fiddles.

Gudoks as a folk instrument entirely ceased away for several centuries already. Nobody except Russian folk-bands really plays them. Moreover, all the present instruments are only reconstructions, based on several parts of gudoks that were found in Novgorod excavations.

There were several attempts to revive Gudoks in music. In Borodin's opera Prince Igor there's a 'Gudok Players Song', which is an author's reconstruction of how Gudok may have sounded. But in practice it's performed with modern violins and altos, of course.