This viola is a commission from a young player who starts at Purcell School in the autumn. He’s been renting violas from me for five years and is now ready for his ‘forever’ viola. At the moment he’s playing a large Maurice Bouette viola which I put into good working order a couple of years ago, so we know that he will be happy with this generously sized instrument, and that he’ll benefit from its rich and powerful sound.
The model is based on a Gasparo da Salo. Gasparo was one of the earliest violin makers, working in Italy in the northern town of Brescia in the late 16th century. He’s particularly known for his violas, which have a wonderful rich and dark sound. They are mostly large in size and made with a fast fluency bordering on craziness which has a charm all of its own. The original of this viola is a large tenor viola which is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. I’ve reduced it slightly to make a very playable instrument.
I’ve started as ever by making the ribs, thin strips of maple bent to shape and glued round the mould.
While the glue joints dry, I’ve made the scroll. I love the unconventional quirkiness, the scroll bold and positive with the eye ending a quarter turn less than on the classical Cremonese instruments.
I love it when it’s time to start working on the back and front, which are key to the sound of the viola and also the first things you look at when a new instrument comes in your hands. The wood for the back is maple, cut “on the slab” which means that the annual rings are parallel with the arching. They look like contour lines on the finished back. Slab sawn wood is not as strong as wood cut “on the quarter’, with the annual rings at right angles to the arching, which is great for violas, as the additional flexibility lends warmth and darkness to the sound. I bought this piece of wood in France about twelve years ago, so it’s well seasoned.
The front of the viola is from spruce. This is used as the soundboard of all stringed instruments, from guitars to pianos and harps as well as the violin family. It’s an efficient transmitter of sound, and very strong for its weight. This is a lovely piece that came from Switzerland via a guitar maker friend.
I start by roughing the arching and then finalise the outline with an even overhang from the ribs.
The next stage is to fit the purfling, the decorative inlay around the edge of the back and front. This also
has a practical use; it helps hold the edge together, so if the viola gets a crack, the purfling may stop it running right to the edge of the instrument. I make the purfling myself from strips of pearwood dyed black, and in this instance, the central white strip is spindlewood, which was used on a lot of the early Brescian instruments. It has a lovely almost ivory-like sheen.
I start by cutting a channel all round the back and front, then bend and trim the purfling in place. From there, I finalise the edgework and then I can go back and finish the arching.
I love it when I’m ready to finalise the arching and everything really begins to look like a viola. The arching is critical for the sound quality; for this model I like a reasonably high arching, full to the edges, which helps to give a rich viola sound with quality and interest.
Then I turn over the plates and reduce them to their final thickness. I work slowly and carefully, flexing the wood, tapping it, measuring the thickness and weighing, aiming for a good balance of all the parameters.
Then I’m ready to finalise the f-holes, which I had roughed out earlier before the thicknessing was finalised. These also have an important function; they have a big effect on the vibration of the front, and as they let air into the body of the viola, control a lot of the radiation of the sound. I like that on this model they are asymmetric, the bass is a little lower than the treble.
Before I’m ready to ‘close the box’, I fit the bass bar which reinforces the lower register of the viola, and helps support the weight of the bridge. Then I take the ribs off the mould and finalise the internal surfaces. Everything gets glued together with specialist cramps.
Then the label goes in before I glue on the front and fit the neck.
With the neck fitted, I finalise the neck shape. This is one of my favourite parts of making an instrument; I love creating a slim, well-constructed shape that will feel good in the player’s hands. Then the viola is finished ‘in the white’ ready for varnishing. This time I’ve used a fingerboard of compressed maple; I am intermittently trialling the alternatives to ebony which are now available.
I like to take the varnish process slowly and steadily but at last it’s done. The viola is now a rich red-brown colour with slight shading. I’ve set it up carefully and first impressions is of a powerful, dark sound. I can’t wait to hear it played properly.
