January 2012

This is a very popular size of viola, and I’m often asked to make it.  It’s small enough to be manageable by almost all players, but still has a satisfying round, warm and powerful sound.

The model comes from a violin by the 16th century Brescian maker, Paolo Maggini, whose owner kindly allowed me to measure and photograph it.  The violin is quite oversized, so I’ve never used it as a violin model, but instead scaled it up to viola  size.  It has quite sloping upper bouts so it’s really easy to get round, but the broad width across the C bouts and strong, full arching give it a real viola quality of sound.

I’ve started by making the ribs, which are strips of maple planed to just over 1mm thick, and bent round a mould.

I make a fairly small and light scroll for this viola, to save weight.  The photograph shows work on the side view.

As the ribs are quite thin, all instruments have strips of wood called linings glued to the outer edges of the ribs, which reinforce the gluing surface against the back and front.  The photo shows them glued in place.

We’ve chosen a very attractive piece of maple for the back of the viola - instead of the usual stripy figure it has what looks like little bubbles.  I’ve roughed out the shape of the arching from the solid block of wood using homemade wooded scrub planes.

The arching of the back and front is now close to being finished, and I’ve finalised the outlines following the rib structure.  The front of the viola is a high-quality piece of spruce from Italy.

The next stage is to inlay the purfling.  I start by cutting the channel round the edge of the viola, using a specially designed tool.

The purfling is made from strips of ebony and spindlewood (a very bright white wood used by the original Brescian makers).  The three strips are held together and then glued into the channel.

With the purfling finished, I can now finalise the arching.  This photo shows that the shape is now established, with a graceful curve down to the edge.  I finish the shape of the arching using a metal scraper.

The arching of both back and front are now finished, and you can see the delicate bubbly figure in the back.

The next job is to start hollowing out the back.  I’m removing the bulk of the wood with the same homemade wooden plane that I used for arching.

February 2012

The final stage of the thicknessing is to scrape out all the tool marks.  A number of factors determine how thick I leave the finished plates; their weight, stiffness, and the sound they make when tapped. 

I’ve cut the f-holes in the front, which really bring the instrument to life.

It’s now time to start the preparations to glue the body of the instrument together.  I’ve taken the ribs off the mould and finalised the internal shape of the blocks and linings.

This was the end of a busy gluing day - the fingerboard made and glued to the neck, the ribs glued to the back, and the bas bar fitted and glued to the front.  The photographs below show the back with the ribs glued to them, and the front with the finished bass bar, ready to be glued to the front.

The final job was to fit and shape the neck.  I take a lot of time and trouble to make the neck a good, slim shape that will feel comfortable in the hand.  I also polish the neck carefully so that the wood is as smooth as possible.

The viola is now finished “in the white”, ready for varnishing.

Prior to varnishing, the wood has some coats of primer.  This has several functions - it brings out the grain in the wood, gives the wood a good colour which softens and supports the coloured varnish, and also when the coloured varnish wears, the wood underneath is not cold and white.  The primer also lends structural stability to the wood.

March 2012

The viola is now finished. I wanted to maintain maximum transparency with the varnish - I’ve used similar maple for the back before and am aware that if the varnish is a little opaque, the subtlety of the figure is lost.  So I chose pigments which gave a delicate golden orange colour, and have left the final coat unpolished so that there is some texture and interest in the varnish coat.

I’ve set up the viola carefully using high-quality handmade fittings and paying attention to making the bridge and soundpost as well as possible in order to give the instrument maximum resonance, clarity and power.  So far it seems to have a strong, warm and dark viola quality.