Setting up a viola like a violin

[kayjay]

Hi all - (pls forgive this unconventional question) - 

I have a (beginner) player that is fairly adamant about wanting to set up their student viola to play with the range of a violin. (They want to play fiddle tunes and are enticed by belief that it will be easier to learn on viola with broader finger spacing, I've attempted to dissuade but that is besides the point of this post...)

To play like a violin they are requesting a GDAE string set up. I see there are viola e strings now available (made for 5 string violas). Any reason a viola e string couldn't be strung where the viola A string would normally live? Similarly, for the other strings, is there any reason why I couldnt just use GDA viola strings, bumped over on the peg position to be strung up on the CGD pegs? (In other words, string the "C" peg with a viola G string, the "G" peg with the D viola string, and so on and so forth).

Thank you!

[Brad Dorsey]

1 hour ago, kayjay said:

…[Is there] Any reason a viola e string couldn't be strung where the viola A string would normally live?...is there any reason why I [couldn’t] just use GDA viola strings, bumped over on the peg position to be strung up on the CGD pegs?…

No. 

[Dwight Brown]

They are quite wrong. Really.

DLB

The E string is going to be very unpleasant for starters.

[Marty Kasprzyk]

I use D'Addario Helicore Viola E Strings for my 5 string violas.  They come in only a long scale (16 in.viola length and greater) with light, medium, or heavy tensions.

No very good players have ever complained about the playing character or sound of these E strings on my 5 string violas.  On the other hand nobody any really good has played them.

[Altgeiger]

I did this when I wasn't able to borrow a violin for a performance. A decent 15" viola strung as a violin sounded really horrible but got me through. I strongly recommend that your student just pick up a violin; they're fun little toys and very easy to play.

[deans]

While I agree with the above posts, its an easy thing to try. I knew a fiddler who had a viola strung as a violin, at that time there were no viola E strings so he rigged up a banjo string. It was terrible, but I think he enjoyed the novelty of it.

I think an electric viola might be more successful since you can manipulate the sound.

[Mr. Bean]

Goldbrokat E strings are long enough to fit most violas. Try the lightest: .25 or .24 gauge.

[Marty Kasprzyk]

5 hours ago, Mr. Bean said:

Goldbrokat E strings are long enough to fit most violas. Try the lightest: .25 or .24 gauge.

I very much agree that you should use the lightest strings.  The string's fundamental frequency f is directly dependent upon the square root of the ratio of the string's tension T and its mass per unit length M and the inversee of its length L:   f= (1/2L)(T/M)^0.5

So if you increase the E string's length to a viola length L, and if you want to maintain the same tension T, the mass per unit M has to be dereased.  Since the same steel string material is used the only way of reducing its mass per unit length M is to use a smaller diameter string as Mr. Bean suggests.