Aloysius

This brings back some memories. About 10 years ago I played bass for a Russian Gypsy band. They all wanted me to play bass balalaika (rather than the fender precision copy I was using). It sounded cool but was just too hard for me, I wasn't even a real bass player, just a guitarist pretending to be one. This is the first I've heard of a contrabass balalaika though.

One of my faves is the octabass - lowest notes are below the range of human hearing.