This instrument retains its original neck, although it was reshaped when converted to a cello, probably in the late eighteenth or nineteenth century. The French viol player Jean de Sainte-Colombe (fl. 1658–87, died by 1701) is credited with adding the seventh string to the bass viol. Nicolas Bertrand, one of the most celebrated makers of viols, incorporated this feature in his bass viols.

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