planning for VSO ??

PROJECT POSTPONED

i started wondering about viola shapes in 2005, i thought about going back to school on a homemade viola. as life would have it, it didn't work out that way. here's what my initial concept looked like:

 

the drawing was eventually made into this VSO in 2008.

 

design ideas were stolen from here and here.

came 2006 i thought about making a cornerless violin and carved a top. but i never completed the violin. it looks like this:

by 2007 i still had nothing but a bunch of ideas. including this one:

it was a massive 16 3/4" viola top made from bent sitka and 2 corners were cut off because i thought they got in the way of the bow. the bending was brutal but the planks took it really well, it has an arch of about 20mm and it is sitting on the dash board of my car right now, slowing cooking away everyday, trapped in my car. it hasn't lost its arch and the crazy glue is still holding the planks together.

i made one VSO in 2008 and 3 so far in 2009. VSO #5 is well on its way and thus my planning for VSO #6. VSO #6 takes on the shape of VSO#1 combined with the 2007 top. it'll be an asymmetric fiddle with 5 strings.

i'm torn. there's a part of me that really wants to build another Amati inspired fiddle and another part of me really wants to to build the asymmetric guy. i don't know... we'll see after VSO #5 is completed.

there was an old article i read in the Strad magazine back in June of 2001 about the so-called "hole-in-the-heart" modification to a fiddle to make C strings respond better on small violas. i started modifying violins and violas like that back in 2005 and came up with some interesting results. among other things, this makes for a great 5 string violin without having to design a purpose built from scratch. it also makes for a great baritone violin if you find just the right strings, which means you have to experiment with detuning viola strings and shortened cello strings. but it does work well with a bit of coaxing, especially the 5 string violin. 

looks like this:

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to be continued...