http://laughingsquid.com/the-worlds-largest-playable-violin/
sad, just sad.
Hmmmmm… well, it is the largest I have seen. 
I did want to see it played a bit more.
I agree. You couldn’t tell from those clips whether it really was “playable” or not.
Yeah, I wonder what constitutes ‘playable’ in the Guinness Record book?
A violin shaped object (hereafter referred to as a VSO) slightly larger than a violin and playing a little lower is usually known as a viola.
A VSO a little bigger yet is known as a cello
Then you find various bigger VSOs known as Basses, double basses…
For whatever reason we don’t use the terms soprano, alto, tenor, bass to name the violin family
Considering all this and perhaps feeling like being a bit pedantic this morning I don’t think they built a violin
Maybe someone could build a robot big enough to play it
Agreed. I thought it should be a contra-contra-contrabass.
I claim no expertise, but I recall a similar conversation. It seems that violas, cellos, and basses are not simply larger versions of the violin, but have substantial differences in their individual designs. While they all have similar shapes (form following function) they are regarded as different instruments within a family. If that is so, then the instrument in the video appears to have the proportions of the violin, but scaled up to the absurd.
Well, yes and no (when the double bass alone retains the shape of its viol ancestry at the shoulders)…
FWIW, I’d say what constitutes a ‘violin’ for record purposes depends on whether you take this to mean ‘violin proper’ or just ‘violin family’. So, if the former, surely you should be able to tuck it under your chin (even if otherwise supported elsewhere), finger it with one hand (even if requiring some kind of keywork to do so), bow it with the other and probably (now here’s a tricky one!) sound it at ‘violin’ pitch. But, if the latter (just ‘violin family’), I’d guess anything ‘playable’ goes!
As you’ll be sick of hearing me say by now, Peter, these things are never totally clear cut. It is by no means agreed that the usual shape of the modern double bass comes from viol ancestry, despite what would seem to be the common sense view of it. In fact, the sloping shoulders may have come later, to aid in getting further up the strings, and, many argue, it’s just coincidence that this make them seem similar to viols. Overall, it seems closer to a violin family instrument than to a viol.
You suggesting it’s got Swedish roots, Ben? 
Probably no more than you draw the bow across a string and it makes a noise.
Good one! 
Funnily enough, though, I could work something up along those lines, at a stretch … viola da gamba, one of the supposed origins of the double bass, gives rise to instruments represented today by things like hardingfele … and that twangy thing the Swedes play … with all the keys on it …
Nyckelharpa.
Aak! For God’s sake, put it away!
I’d go with the correct pitch making it a violin. So this gargantuan member of the violin family would be a contra bass violin or something similar - don’t see them catching on, well maybe - how about a robot playing it in a ‘metal band’
It has been awhile since I’ve read/studied violin family dimensions - but I believe this is true:
Viola’s are usually not as thick as a scaled up violin would be (easier to hold under the chin and play) though scaled versions have been made and are still called violas.
A cello is pretty close to being a scaled up violin.
Basses are less standardized in shape and size - not sure enough to say more
I put things like this in the same category as the infamous “shiny fiddle made of gold”. Except for the monetary value, who would want a golden fiddle? It would weigh about 100 pounds and sound like a brick with strings.