In my search for the weird offshoots of common things that didn’t quite make it to prime time, I present to you the Octobass: the unknown member of the violin family that’s deeper than the double bass:
Only three of the original instruments were made in the 19th century, because as you can imagine they are comically unwieldy. Today, only two exist, and a handful of reproductions. Still, I wonder what a composer today could make with them…
Here’s what somebody else tried: