While the Bate is most famously known for it's comprehensive collection of brass and woodwind instruments it also is home to a reasonable collection of bowed and plucked string instruments. The most well known of this sort is the violin family, comprising violins, violas and cellos (also known as violoncello). But of equal importance is the viola da gamba family of instruments and the Bate has an active viola da gamba consort. Also in the collection are a few examples of other string instruments, such as guitars.
In addition to these instruments we also have a number of less well known bowed string instruments including viola d'amore and a 5-stringed quinton.