1964 Russian Contrabass Balalaika

A few months ago, my buddy Phil sent a picture of this thing in his living room. He said something to the effect of, "hey Jake, look what I got for you!" Yeah, of course he knew I'd want this and he brought it up last week and left with some greenbacks and a Univox amp-head in trade. I still think I got the better deal: I love crazy basses!

This is officially a contrabass balalaika. There are a number of balalaika sizes (just like in the mandolin family) and a "bass balalaika" plays the same notes but is quite a bit smaller. The contra part of its title is thus important if you're telling someone what you've been playing. It has a maker's name (illegible) and a 1964 date in the soundhole.

I always daydreamed about these in the back of my mind when I was working on banjo-bass and mando-bass projects, but to come into possession of one is pretty awesome as they're scarce over here. It does exactly what you think it does and more: it's more portable, lighter, and easier to play than a double bass and it's louder and punchier than your average upright, too. I fit this in the back of our Volvo wagon without having to put the back seats down. That's a win for me: two kids, my lady, and a big balalaika!

Its fretted, piano-wire setup means it doesn't have that same double-bass bloom and mwah with the almost-subsonic fatty character, but the almost "P-Bass" kerrangy attack of this monster more than makes up for the difference. I did some background music for a theater production last week with it and I only needed to pick this thing "half-strength" to fill a big auditorium with sound. There's no way you're going to not hear this instrument.

At any rate, it arrived with some "customizations" and "fun old repairs." The worst of it are a number of sort-of repaired cracks on the back and top and the absolute worst is the terrible patch job on the treble side of the top near the bridge. Ew, right? After filling and gluing some back cracks, however, the body became stable. The "customization" comes into the picture in the form of a neck that was pulled out of its dovetail joint and then modified to serve as a bolt-on neck. I gather this was to make it easy to break-down for travel.

Work included: a neck reset (made easy via the bolt-on conversion plus a shim), a fret level/dress, install of a new taller bridge saddle (bone), general cleaning, and a setup. Action height is 1/8" at the 12th fret and the neck is straight. Any lower on the action and those strings zip all over the frets, but it's still comfortable to play as the crazy-long scale length and string wire gives it some flex.

Scale length: 44 3/4" (longer than your average 3/4 upright bass)

Nut width: 1 5/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/4"

String spacing at bridge: 1 11/16"

Body length: 31"

Body width: 42"

Body depth: 13"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid maple

Neck wood: unknown, maple-like?

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: unknown

Bridge: replacement tropical hardwood, bone saddle

Neck feel: deep U+soft V shape, flat board

Condition notes: a plethora of scratches, scrapes, scuffs, dings, and many old cruddy crack repairs in the past. The neck is converted to bolt-on and the bridge is unoriginal (but a nice replacement). The tuners and tuner plate are original but the mounting screws are not.

How do you like that zero fret?

See the "endpin" on the treble-corner of the top? That extends about 18" or so and makes a perfect standing-aid for the instrument while playing standing-up. One can leave it all the way in for sitting-down.