As with the violins of the period, many of these examples feature fretted fingerboard. The smaller  tenor violins were of an unusual wide bodied shape and fitted with a very short tail piece to increase the string length sufficiently, thereby dropping the pitch down by an octave. Sometimes no tailpiece was fitted at all but the strings attached to a brass plate fastened to the front ribs.
These instruments exhibit characteristics similar to those of violins from that era in having fretted fingerboards. The smaller tenor violins had a unique wide-body shape and utilized short tailpieces to increase string length, resulting in an octave lower pitch. In some cases, no tailpiece was used, but strings were attached directly to a brass plate secured to the front ribs.