Late Continental Viols
including French seven string basses

7-string bass, after Nicholas Bertrand

The addition of the seventh (low A) string to French bass viols is attributed (by Rousseau in Traité de la Viole, 1687) to Jean de Sainte-Colombe (circa 1640–1700), and seven string instruments were made by Parisian makers such as Michel Colichon (flourished circa 1670 to 1693) Nicholas Bertrand (1686–1735). Also significant in this period, for example, are the late French trebles and pardessus, and basses by the Hamburg maker Joachim Tielke (1641–1719).