Kit Violin
Kit [kytte, treble violin]
(Flem. creytertjes; Fr. poche, pochette, pochette da amour, sourdine; Ger. Posch, Tanzmeistergeige, Taschengeige -geige; It. canino, pochetto, sordina, sordino; Lat. linterculus).
A small bowed unfretted fiddle, generally with four strings, made in a great variety of shapes and played from the 16th century to the 19th. Kits can be divided into two general types: a member of the rebec family, either pear-shaped or resembling a narrow boat, with a distinctly vaulted back; or a miniature viol, violin, mandore or guitar, with a slightly arched back and a long neck. Not all have a soundpost or bass-bar; their presence depends on the size and shape of each instrument.
The tuning is generally in 5ths, sometimes at the pitch of the violin, but more often a 4th or a 5th (occasionally an octave) higher if there are only three strings. Surviving kits range from simple rustic instruments to the products of such makers as Joachim Tielke and Stradivari (who left working patterns for different types of kit, including the boat shape labelled ‘canino’ and elongated violin shapes of which the last is dated 1733).
