Pear-shaped Fiddle 

This pear-shaped fiddle is more like the medieval gigas. It has a powerful sonority.

This instrument is made of a single piece of hollowed out wood that forms the back, the handle and the pegbox. A convex top made of pine wood is placed on top of it. The pegs are placed on the side of the pegbox in the shape of a sickle, something that can be found in medieval instruments such as the rebec around the 14th century.

A special feature of this instrument is that the core rests on the leg of the bridge. The D-shaped ears let the core of the instrument pass through, which rests on the bridge leg and transmits the vibrations directly to the back of the instrument.

Extract from ‘ICONOGRAFÍA MUSICAL DEL GÓTICO EN NAVARRA by Enrique Galdeano Aguirre’ (p. 218 a 221)

(...) At the same time, a similar model of instrument also appeared in Europe in the 12th century, which various authors have called the giga, with a pyriform shape, normally with three strings, but without a clear differentiation between body and handle. All of these jigs have a pyriform outline, two ears on the soundboard in the shape of a D (almost semicircular), a short fingerboard at the level of the soundboard and a front pegbox, with a triangular, pentagonal, oval or circular outline. M.R. Álvarez sees a possible origin of this instrument in the Byzantine lyra, which began to be played with a bow at the same time as the vihuela. This instrument merges with the fiddle to the point of being very difficult to differentiate in certain cases, given that we can speak of fiddle-gigue.

The peculiarity of the jig is the way its strings are played on the handle, which is not pressed with the fingertips on the fingerboard, but the fingertip rests freely on the fingerboard and the fingernail presses laterally on the string to shorten the length of the vibrating string. This technique is even used today in the Cretan lyra, the Bulgarian gadulka or the classical Turkish kemence. What appears to be a small variation in playing means that the instrument has different organological characteristics, such as a high bridge despite the small number of strings, or a fingerboard that does not rise above the level of the soundboard, as the strings do not have to run very close to it. In summary, it can be said that all known iconographic examples of jigs date from the 12th century.

However, throughout the 12th century, numerous images of fiddles similar to the gigas also appear, but with a clear differentiation between the soundboard and the neck, which is already of medium length. It is possible to explain the influence of the jig on the first bowed vihuelas, which would adapt their pegboxes to the triangular, pentagonal, oval or circular ones of the gigas, as well as the adoption of the two D-shaped ears on the sides of the bridge. Here another singularity arises that affects the organology of the instrument, since the bridge of the Byzantine lyras rested partially on a small cylindrical piece of wood that rested on the bottom of the soundboard and emerges from the top through one of the D-shaped holes. This piece of wood is currently used in the family of violas and is called alma, and it is understood that it favours the sonority of the instrument at the same time as it prevents the soundboard from sinking under the pressure of the strings. It could be understood then that the core is introduced in the bowed vihuelas or fiddle vihuelas due to the influence of the jig, and that it is from this moment onwards when the former adopt the D-shaped holes of notable size, to introduce and adjust this new accessory.