Viola: Part 2

Well its playable now, well almost I need some sort of compound to keep the tuning pegs from slipping.

All I did was cut out the bridge, cut out a small block drilled some holes into it to act as a tail piece, and the shaped up the scroll. The block was just glued down to the top (all you violist may cringe at my weird design now). I have no idea what I'm doing, but this is ok. An important part to DIY is, trial and error. Go in with your best shot, and if it fails, try again with changes.

I don't know what it sounds like yet and wont be able to tell if its bad or good because I don't have a trained ear.

This brings me to another DIY point, ask your friends for help. Weather they have tools, knowledge, or skills, they can help you out. I have a good friend who plays the viola well and can tell me what needs work and what is ok, and its his opinion you'll be hearing here shortly on another post.

If this happens to make a pleasing sound, I will continue to sand and shape it, stain it, and put lacquer on it to make it pretty. A picture,

Viola: Part 1

Yes a Viola, NOT a Violin. Now that that's out of the way, onto the post.

This is my first attempt at a viol family instrument, I'm going off nothing but seeing a few in the past and research done on the internet. I made an electric guitar a while ago but that's a different mindset and build. My second attempt at this will be with a book from someone who knows what they are doing.

So like any good maker, I did my homework on the workings, parts, styles, and builds of the instrument. After I was satisfied with the collection of information (I use Google notebooks to keep info) I drew up and printed a plan at a local print shop.

After that I transferred the plan on to the wood. I picked white poplar because it's relatively easy to work with, decent strength, from my research I found it has a nice tone, and it was available.


The basic construction is the top plate on the left their has the sound holes cut into it, and unfortunately I forgot to capture a pic of it but the inside was chiseled out to make the wood thinner. Then another cutout was made and its center cut out to form a spacer layer. Then another cut out was made to form the back. It was chiseled out as well. The three layers were then glued together.


So after it was glued together, it was sanded down for smoothness and to thin the back plate even further. A notch was cut in the top for the fingerboard to fit into and it was glued into place. The fingerboard was just made from a poplar post and cut into shape. What it will basically look like.

Bridge Deux

So I would have had the bridge broken and status on how it fared reported, but the region experienced an ice storm. All daily activities were put on hold for a few days. This gave me a chance to test my bridge and I'm glad I did because the results were mediocre, at best.

Seeing the failures of the last bridge I made a second one, made many improvements, and it could even be mistaken as a bridge to boot. This new bridge has two "logs" again but they are laid like bricks to form a wall of sorts, then at the top two toothpicks broken in half give the structure stability.

The new breaking date is set for tomorrow, the second of February, results to follow.


UPDATE: The bridge was broken today, the second of Feb. On the way into the building it was damaged and two of the top support rods were severed, resulting in only a 607% efficiency. I am going to rebuild the supports, and try again. I believe it can hold much more as the main supports were in perfect condition, even after the force of the breaking.