Ukelin

these were sold door-to-door. Thousands were sold during the depression as they were realtively cheap, easy to play and provided hours of entertainment.
After the initial investment it was cheap entertainment, money was tight and of course no TV.
They are played with a bow, there are guides and letter/numbers where to play for the notes. Kind of like a autoharp violin.
They sound more like a violin than a uke.
 
my pleasure. It'd be great if you could put a video up or even just an audio file once you get one. I'm intreagued to hear what it sounds like.
 
Here's a link to a site that show many variations of these. They are basically fretless zithers.

http://www.fretlesszithers.com/bowed.html#index

One of these companies was here in SW Michigan, The Marxochime Colony in New Troy, MI. The workers lived in company provided housing on the grounds of the factory. It wasn't far from the "House of David" folks in Benton Harbor, MI. I think very few people ever learned to play these, and I hear that tuning them is a nightmare.

colony.jpg
 
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