The instrument was originally a fiddle. It used a flexible stick, a
musical bow, as the instrument's body and neck. The resonator, at first an inflated animal bladder, was held between the stick and the bowstring. Versions in Poland, Lithuania and the Netherlands had as many as three strings, but pictures of the Flanders fiddle and the
Nocturnal Serenade by Jan Steen show monochords (single-stringed instruments). In this configuration, the fiddle is played by drawing the bow over the string or strings; pressing down on the string changes the note. On percussion instruments, the drum has been turned sideways on the instrument and the string runs across it like the
sound-table on a
spike lute. The string has been dropped in some cases, the bow stick becoming a drumstick and the instrument now a percussion instrument, called a boomba, stamp fiddle, stumpf fiddle, or pogo cello. Also called Devil's stick, Devil's violin, boom bass, hum strum, teufel stick or stomp stick. and Germany as well as the United States.
Boomba is highly likely to have come from German
Bumbaß [pronounced "BOOM-bahss"];
bum possibly coming from an older form of
brummen ("to hum") and
baß ("bass", as in music). During World War I, German soldiers made Stumpf fiddles or
Teufelsgeiges (), replacing the pig's bladder with a tin can for the resonator, and bowing with a notched stick. Other bowed instruments were created using a wooden box for the resonator. Today, there are two types of the instrument, bowed and percussion. The Stumpf fiddle became a percussion instrument, beaten with a stick and stamped on the ground to shake attached wrattles, bells and cymbals. The instrument may have a string, or not. It is also called Devil's stick, pogo cello, boom-ba, boom bass, hum strum, devil's violin, teufel stick. ==Other names==