Bumbass

Bumbass [Lat. bombus, to drone, buzz, via OFr. bombace], Ger. and Austrian folk instr., a *stick zither similar to the Engl. *bladder and string. It seems to have had 3 strings originally and as such was described by Philip Hainhofer in 1629 (he called it a new invention). Subsequently it had a single string passed over an inflated pig bladder or ox bladder, and was bowed with a notched stick, thus producing a noise like a drum roll. After becoming a mendicant's instr. it was revived in modern…