Remember my bass viol? Its finished!
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:24 pm
A good number of you have been very interested in the viola da gamba that I've been building. Well, it is finally finished!
The biggest hurdle in building this bass viol was the research. All of the learning that was required to understand the instrument and its construction was significant. Compared to when I was learning guitar making, this was a lot of work. There is so much information available for guitar making that the challenge is to make sense of it. The challenge in viol making is just finding the info, then making it.
This viol was not built after any extant model, but rather following a set of student lutherie plans as they were the only ones that I was aware of when I set out upon this journey. I have since become acquainted with far more resource than I was back then.
The top is Lutz Spruce and is formed using bent stave construction. This is not nearly as complicated or difficult as it may sound, and I can see it as viable for other instruments.
The back, sides, and neck are of soft maple. The back is actually a second back. Two summers ago I had a nasty setback due to an extremely high and prolonged humidity event which degraded many of the joints. I deemed it easier to remove the plates and do the repair. For the back, the inlay had been compromised such that I felt it better to start over, and to do a better job in the process.
The inlay on the back is following an example form Richard Meares.
The tuning pegs I turned from Indonesian Rosewood.
The headstock scroll is traditional for a viol. For a viol, it is either an open scroll with a plain back or with relief carving, or a figurative carving in the round. I used celtic style cats as a motif for the carving as my wife, for whom the instrument is for, is a cat lady. I used the same motif for the inlay on the fingerboard and the tailpiece.
My wife, who is a cellist, is now experiencing the joy of transitioning from a four string fret less instrument tuned in fifths to a six string fretted instrument tuned in fourths.
Next up is to make a bow. Probably several in the effort to get it just right.
And a case...
The biggest hurdle in building this bass viol was the research. All of the learning that was required to understand the instrument and its construction was significant. Compared to when I was learning guitar making, this was a lot of work. There is so much information available for guitar making that the challenge is to make sense of it. The challenge in viol making is just finding the info, then making it.
This viol was not built after any extant model, but rather following a set of student lutherie plans as they were the only ones that I was aware of when I set out upon this journey. I have since become acquainted with far more resource than I was back then.
The top is Lutz Spruce and is formed using bent stave construction. This is not nearly as complicated or difficult as it may sound, and I can see it as viable for other instruments.
The back, sides, and neck are of soft maple. The back is actually a second back. Two summers ago I had a nasty setback due to an extremely high and prolonged humidity event which degraded many of the joints. I deemed it easier to remove the plates and do the repair. For the back, the inlay had been compromised such that I felt it better to start over, and to do a better job in the process.
The inlay on the back is following an example form Richard Meares.
The tuning pegs I turned from Indonesian Rosewood.
The headstock scroll is traditional for a viol. For a viol, it is either an open scroll with a plain back or with relief carving, or a figurative carving in the round. I used celtic style cats as a motif for the carving as my wife, for whom the instrument is for, is a cat lady. I used the same motif for the inlay on the fingerboard and the tailpiece.
My wife, who is a cellist, is now experiencing the joy of transitioning from a four string fret less instrument tuned in fifths to a six string fretted instrument tuned in fourths.
Next up is to make a bow. Probably several in the effort to get it just right.
And a case...