Making an viola has been on my wish list for a long time. On the basis of a drawing of the viola made by the Amati brothers in 1620 I had started building the sound box. It concerns an almost 17″ viola and is therefore one of the larger Violas.In this period my attention was drawn to the project “Five Stringed Tenor Viola” by Thomas Riebl.

He had a 5-string Tenor Viola made with an extra string tuned as F (88 Hz) in addition to the usual C, G, D and A strings. The F-string sounds a fifth lower than the C string.

I thought that was too much of an opportunity to miss. In the design I extended the screw case a bit. Thats why I could get rid of 5 tuning screws, adjusted the own frequencies of the sound box and went looking for a good F-string.

       The instrument                                17″ soundbox and 4/4 violin                           5 peg holes

That good F-string for this Viola came from the company Thomastik. An experimental string with a good sound and in terms of sound volume it corresponds with the 4 other (normal) viola strings of the Dominant type. The string does need a lot of string power and an extra heavy bow. (For comparison: The string sounds one tone lower than the G-string of the Cello)

The low F-string added to the viola gives a great extra value to the sound.

Fixed part of the building process of ‘The White Violin’ is improving the sound and playability based on the reactions of violinists (m/f). Hans Stoelinga is an Altist and played on the Tenor for a while. I am very gratefull to him for the tips for improvement.

In short, the Tenor Viola is ready for its next adventure. Are you or do you know an viola player looking for a tenor challenge, feel free to contact us.

Want to know more about the project ‘Five Stringed Tenor Viola’ by Thomas Riebl? Click below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-7OBQ586TQ first part Arpeggione

https://www.youtube.com/user/SNVideoreporter article about the project