The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I apologise for posting this under 'British & European Machines' - I just could not make the 'Records, Recording, & Artists' new topic section work.

Anyway, nearly two years ago (how time flies) I uploaded a photograph of an unusual horn in my collection which I could not identify. I will be for-ever grateful to our colleague 'Sidewinder', who said it may belong to a Stroh Violin - and he was 100 % correct !

Thread: viewtopic.php?p=338086&hilit=foghorn#p338086

Some time later as luck would have it, I came across the actual instrument the horn belongs to for sale - but minus the horn. Amazing that this should happen really. They were a perfect match ! Great condition too - even the mica diaphragm is flawless.

I believe that instruments such as this were used for example by music hall acts and in recording studios during the early years of the 20th century, so I thought it may be of interest on this forum.

Here are some photographs then:

How many strings are there?

I guess that's a redundant question considering your title...

Curt A wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 8:25 am How many strings are there?

Hi Curt,

Just the one string. The 'original' (well I assume an old one) was broken so I contacted a lady on Youtube who plays the same instrument and fitted a new one the same as the one she uses.

I am no musician but I did a video of me messing around for a few moments playing it. I could put that on youtube if you like so you can hear what it sounds like. It was kind of cool I think

Kind of cello like ? Different notes can be easily produced it seems etc.

You were fortunate to find an original. I was unable to find one at a reasonable price, so I decided to make one from a wrecked violin, a spare reproducer and wood from a derelict Edison DD cabinet and a loose trumpet horn...

Curt A wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:18 am You were fortunate to find an original. I was unable to find one at a reasonable price, so I decided to make one from a wrecked violin, a spare reproducer and wood from a derelict Edison DD cabinet and a loose trumpet horn...

Stroh-Viol-1a.jpg

Stroh-Viol-10a.jpg

Stroh-Viol-11a.jpg

You are right, I was very fortunate.

I think the body of mine cost about £ 80 - something like that any-way.

Your looks very good too. I would have thought it was an original antique item. You are very talented at making these items I think.

Snap. I bought mine in a Norwich junk shop about 40 years ago. Not sure why as I have never played a stringed instrument but I tend to collect strange items. I have a couple of 78's of phonofiddle music but it is really rather excruciating so they are rarely played.

IainW wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 3:07 pm Snap. I bought mine in a Norwich junk shop about 40 years ago. Not sure why as I have never played a stringed instrument but I tend to collect strange items. I have a couple of 78's of phonofiddle music but it is really rather excruciating so they are rarely played.

Ha ha ! So true indeed !

Yours looks slightly different to mine - the metal part which keeps the string taut seems larger and of a different design and so does the horn connection to the diaphragm. - very interesting. I haven't seen one like yours before - it could be a very rare one maybe ? Great instrument.

That's it then, you, me and Curt will get together and form a band !

Fiddle-dee-dee, The Phono Fiddle Three !

Curt A wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 8:25 am How many strings are there?

I guess that's a redundant question considering your title...

That did make me laugh in a good way - however ........

I asked an 'ai' about this and it said:

'a single-stringed phonofiddle can have two strings, but one is the main playing string, and the other is a sympathetic or drone string that adds resonance, rather than being a second playing string'.

So ......... at the end of the day you asked a very good question and I learnt something !

This is the geometry of a four string Stroh violin. It is arranged similar to a standard violin, with the exception that it resonates through a phonograph reproducer and external horn as opposed to a hollow wooden body. It is designed to play in a focused direction into an acoustical recording horn.

The strings resonate through a wooden bridge which is directly attached to a phonograph reproducer by means of a steel pin inserted into the needle chuck and then through the diaphragm and out through the horn. The reason that the bridge is mounted on an axle pin is to allow movement of the entire bridge to transfer vibrations. This was done to direct the sound more effectively to facilitate recording of stringed instruments, which were difficult to record acoustically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgnnCKjZbI

The Stroh and like instruments, contrary to what one might think, remain in use by musicians today, albeit not widely. From Wikipedia:

A number of musicians, including Tom Waits, Carla Kihlstedt, Thomas Newman, Bat for Lashes, A Hawk and a Hacksaw[4] and Eric Gorfain continue to use the Stroh violin for its distinctive sound. Shakira featured a Stroh violin on her 2010/11 The Sun Comes Out World Tour, with multi-instrumentalist Una Palliser playing it on some songs. Palliser also played Stroh violin on a Tom Hickox album[5] and live with Bitter Ruin.[6] Pinky Weitzman plays the Stroh violin for various New York experimental ensembles, including her own project (Not Waving but Drowning), as well as Flare, LD & the New Criticism, and as part of the onstage ensemble for Stephin Merritt's My Life as a Fairy Tale. A Stroh violin is regularly played by Andy Stein of Vince Giordano's Nighthawks Orchestra. They Might Be Giants used a Stroh violin in their song "I Can Hear You", recorded on a wax cylinder at the Edison Laboratory.

...

The Romanian horn-violin is similar to the Stroh violin. It was built through the 20th century. It has the same length as the Stroh violin, but its horn is narrower and yields a more directional sound. The structure of the instrument is based on the tungsten element of a gramophone. Amateurs or small workshops could easily build it and, perhaps for that reason, many variants exist in Eastern Europe.

The vibrations of the strings and bridge are transmitted by a thin rod to the membrane of the gramophone-element. The membrane transforms these vibrations into sound waves, which are amplified by the horn or beaker. The horn-violin is harder to play than a normal violin because the reaction of the bow on the strings is less flexible, and the instrument's weight is less evenly distributed. This causes an imbalance on the shoulder.

The instrument is still used in Romanian folk-music for playing horas and doinas, and mixes well with the characteristic sound of the pan-flute. It is generally used sparsely due to its tone. Instruments like the Stroh violin and other types of horn-violin remain a curiosity; they are quite rare in the orchestra.

The horn-violin is especially used in folk music of the Bihor region of Romania. Famous practitioners of this music style include fiddler Gheorghe Rada, singers Florica Bradu, Florica Ungur, Florica Duma, Leontin Ciucur, Cornel Borza, Vasile Iova, Maria Haiduc, Viorica Flintașu, and renowned folk ensembles Crișana or Rapsozii Zarandului.