Hello,
this weekend I have enjoyed playing in a really nice band of mandolins, guitars and such stringed instruments for folk music of Balkans. One thing I have been noticing for quite some time now is that we miss one very important instrument: "Begeš". It is like a cornerstone of every stringed band for folk songs here in Balkans. It is a variant of double bass.

I was thinking about maybe even building one. So far I've made restorations to few mandolins and tambourines, made one 3-stringed tambourine and one ukulele, but never such a big instrument or the one that requires carving of the front or back plate.
What is also the problem - I don't know what is this instrument called in English (if there is a name) that would help me in construction.
I would be grateful for any help on finding out the name of this instrument. Thanks
