JavierPortero

Thanks for the responses, someone mentioned well fitted wood pegs, but using them with steel strings still don't do it. Plus age and lefty tennis are not being kind to my left wrist Geared pegs seem to be on the heavy side, I emailed Wittner about the actual weight but no response yet... I am curious to try the Wittner chinrest. Greetings

Swimming training helped me to relax upper body a lot, specially during the winter when the pool is heated, I finish the training sessions with a totally relaxed body. It's my 18th symphony season as a viola player and believe me I am looking for a small viola now and hopefully when pandemic ends swimming pools will be open again.

Hi! I am looking for reducing weight of my viola and cannot find the weight for Wittner's "space age" tailpiece, chinrest and geared pegs. Specially considering the pegs are not cheap are this fittings really that lighter? I have to say I prefer wood for the look but Wittner tailpieces are handy for adjustments on the run during performance and I finde them resonant in terms of sound. Any thoughs on the geared viola pegs and chinrest? Greetings from Buenos Aires.

Sounds great Luis, congratulations! awesome player too.

I like amber or pale orange instruments, red too, but surely I prefer non antiqued instruments, sometimes I read some people cannot wait 100 years to see the instrument look old. 11 years ago I comissioned a viola to Martin Allegro and it's been the viola I played since, 11 orchestra seasons, concerts, recordings, touring and family life aged the viola, there are shades, craquelure, dings and scratches... and it was brand new when I got it, nice to see the viola then and now in the pics! This viola have seen a lot!

Don't know about wood but a a violist I find the model is important in relation to the performer, finding the right size for you is important. I think. Some models are just easier to play. In terms of sound if too brilliant the instrument sound violin like, if too dark gets lost in the mix and the sound loses edge. Lots of compromises in viola playing!

That maple stripe under the fingerboard, I guess is some suplemento for a too thin neck? does it affect sound or stability in any way? I have a viola with the same issue and was considering neck graft but this is s simplier solution. Sorry bout the off topic. By the way Causse is a high class artist and person, his tone reflects that.

Nice instrument Stephen

So, here a recording I made on a modern viola copy of the Archinto Stradivari made in 2010 by Martin Gorostiaga in Buenos Aires. The instrument was used extensively since it was fresh from the maker, shows lots of wear now, the oil varnish cracked quite a bit. I agree the sound is not as expansive as the modern Amati copy I have made in Cremona but the Stradivari model is SO easy to play, even across the scale and also exquisite design.

What happened with this project? Great sounding viola models with plans woud be great.

I think is great for a world class string player to perform on a brand new, pristine varnished instrument. Audience don't care if the violin is even a Strad, they are there because of the music or maybe just to be entertained a bit. All instruments were eventually new. I am really thankful to the maker when I comissioned my viola that he didn't wanted to age the instrument. 10 seasons and oil varnish made the instrument look great now.

The Gibson

The Russian

The Russian