Patent ID: 8624095

Claim:
A musical instrument comprising: an instrument body having a front face, a rear face, a peripheral wall and a hollow interior; a neck extending from the instrument body and including a finger board thereon; a plurality of side by side strings extending along the neck over the finger board of the neck for fingering thereon with the strings extending to the body so as to be arranged for bowing of all of the strings extending along the neck; a plurality of tuning pegs arranged for receiving and tensioning a respective one of the strings; wherein there are at least eight strings with a first set of four of the strings being arranged to provide the sounds of a Violin and a second set of four of the strings being arranged to provide the sounds of a Cello; a first bridge associated with and supporting the first set of strings; the first bridge being arched on an arc, when viewed longitudinally of the strings, so as to support the strings on the arc at different heights for bowing; a second bridge associated with and supporting the second set of strings; the second bridge being arched on an arc, when viewed longitudinally of the strings, so as to support the strings on the arc at different heights for bowing; the first bridge being spaced from the second bridge longitudinally of the strings; the first and second bridges, when viewed longitudinally of the strings, being arranged to lie on the same arc so as to support the first and second sets of the strings with the first set alongside the second set in the arc for bowing.