[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1354446976' post='1885955']
You're dead right [b]iconic[/b], the bass guitar is a solid-body adaptation of the double bass, which is a member of the string family of the orchestra. The double bass is the odd one out anyway, as it is tuned in fourths (E-A-D-G low to high) whereas the rest are tuned in fifths (e.g. violin G-D-A-E low to high).
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I have heard that double basses are technically viols rather than violins, in historical terms. Violins (violin proper, viola, cello) are tuned in fifths and have a different body shape to viols, which are tuned in fourths. The different body shape shows at the neck joint (violins are rounded, where viol bodies come to a point) and at the cutouts (violins have those ornate points, where viols are plain and squared-off).
But I'd definitely want to tune in fourths in the double-bass register anyway, so that may be beside the point.