16 5/8 inch (42.3cm) viola based on Gasparo da Salo  

May 2010

Although much of my work is focussed on making small violas, it's a real pleasure from time to time to make a larger instrument, and to elaborate my ideas about how to make a comfortable and responsive instrument on  a broader scale. This viola is  based on a reduction of a tenor viola by the Brescian maker Gasparo da Salo made at the end of the 16th century, and housed in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.  I've scaled down the body to 16 5/8 inches, keeping a good width across the C bouts.   For the back I've chosen poplar, because it contributes warmth and richness to the sound, and also because its combination of low density and stiffness means that the finished instrument will be correspondingly light in weight.  

This viola is being made for a player in the Scottish National Orchestra, who recently tried the first viola I made to this model.

I've started by making the scroll.  The Brescian scrolls have been a journey of discovery for me - they have a rugged charm and huge spontaneity.  But they are really different from the more controlled, classic Cremonese scrolls that were all we looked at in my distant violin making student days, and therefore there was a lot to unlearn to try to understand how their makers must have worked.   Lots of looking at original instruments and good quality pictures has made me rethink the techniques I use, and I hope now my approach is closer to the spirit of the originals. 

The ribs are made from thin strips of maple, planed to just over 1mm thick, and bent round a mould.

I've started preparing the back - roughing the shape of the arching from a solid block of poplar.

Having finished the rib assembly, I'm now able to finalise the outlines of the back and front, working with an even overhang from the ribs.  

The wood I've chosen for the front is a lovely piece of spruce - quite wide-grained (which I like for violas) and also light in weight, which will work well with the poplar back.  The initial shape of the arching of the front is made by steam-bending thin pieces of wood, rather than carving from solid wood as I did for the back.  I find that the steam-bent fronts give a more responsive and powerful instrument, so it's my usual technique for making viola fronts.

I'm now inlaying the purfling round the edge.  First I've cut a channel for the purfling to go in to.  Then I fit in the three slender strips of wood - ebony for the black and boxwood for the white.  This technique of using three separate strips of hard wood, not pre-glued, was used by the original Brescian violin makers, and is visually quite striking.  The blacks are very solid and there is always a good flowing line, even when as often happened on the originals, the channels that the purfling fits into were roughly cut.

The arching is finished.  For this viola, the arching is fairly high, and the shapes are strong and simple, which helps to make the viola powerful.  This is a really nice stage, as the instrument really begins to make shape, and you can see the grain of the wood more clearly.

June 2010

I've now turned over the back and front and hollowed out the underside to the final thicknesses.  This is one of the most critical stages of making an instrument, as it largely determines the response of the finished instrument.  There are several different factors to take into account when deciding how much wood to take off; the shape of the arching, the weight and stiffness of the wood, the size of the viola.  Working with a poplar back throws up more variables than maple, as the differences in density from piece to piece can be much greater.  This was a fairly light piece, but not the lightest I've used - so I started cautiously leaving quite a lot of wood, and then gradually working it down until I arrived at the stiffness I was looking for.  In comparison to a maple back, for the same overall strength a poplar back will be about 30 - 50% thicker but also at least 20% lighter in weight.  This helps to make the instrument more responsive, and is of course a huge benefit for larger violas, as it helps to keep the weight down.

The front found its ideal thickness easily - it's a lovely quality piece of spruce and found a nice balance of weight, stiffness and thickness.

I've cut the f-holes in the front.  For Brescian instruments they shouldn't be too symmetrical, so I lay them out and cut them quickly, aiming for shapes that compliment each other, like the repeat of a piece of music, rather than a rigidly mirrored pair.

The front is now finished; the bass bar fitted and shaped and everything prepared ready to glue to the ribs.

I've now taken the ribs off the mould and glued them to the back.  For this I use specialised cramps, colour coded for the different types of curve.

The back and ribs are now cleaned up ready to have the front glued on.  This is one of my favourite stages of making an instrument - it's nice to see the blocks and linings neatly finished off, and for the first time, the instrument coming together in three dimensions.

The body of the viola is finished, ready to fit the neck.

Having fitted the neck, I've taken time to shape it carefully to make it comfortable to play.  Neck shape is one of the areas of violin making that is a lot more tricky than it seems, and I've found that there is a lot to learn about how the width and depth relate, and where to remove wood to make the neck feel better in the hand.

The viola is now finished "in the white".  The next stage will be the varnishing.  Before the colour coats, I apply several different layers which seal and protect the wood, giving it a warm golden glow that will support the colour.

July 2010 I've now varnished the viola a warm chestnut brown.  I've put a little bit of wear into the finish so that it doesn't look aggressively new, and so that the natural wear that happens as the instrument is used will just blend in to what I've started. It's sounding warm and rich, and is powerful and projecting.

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