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~~~
ABOUT MY VIOLA
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During the first few years after I took up guitar, I had a
continuing urge to experiment with different instruments -
seeking to find out which one would be the best channel for
my muse; i.e., which type of instrument would be easiest for
me to master in a short time, and still capable of allowing
the level of expressiveness I yearned for. One of those
instruments I experimented with, was a "Hawaiian
Guitar" I purchased from "The Music Center"
in Deerfield, IL. I fooled around with it for about a month
or two, and decided I really wasn't getting what I wanted
out of owning it. Window-shopping at The Music Center again,
I saw what I thought was a violin, in decent condition, and
just barely within my economic reach. I brought the Hawaiian
Guitar back, and used it as a trade-in to get the violin by
adding the "Cry Baby" wah pedal I'd had at the
time to sweeten the deal for them. I don't think I added in
very much cash,... I went home with that "violin".
Years passed, and I never really did master it. I learned as
I owned it, that it really wasn't that good an instrument.
It had an innately sweet tone, and good voice, but it wasn't
that playable. It needed repairs - which would cost money I
found hard to justify spending on something I really
couldn't play well anyway.
Last year, I got the itch to experiment with it again. I had
some extra money to invest in its repair, and decided to do
it. I'd discovered that there was a skilled violin maker in
a town about 40 miles away (Iron River, MI): Keith Davis,
the owner/operator of "Davis Instruments". I'd had
a few interactions with him, and believed he would be a good
choice for any repair work on my "violin".
Step #1, was to have the bow restrung with hair. (All the
hairs were broken, during a period where I'd lent the thing
to someone.) I took in the bow separately - but, brought the
instrument with me when I went to pick up the repaired bow.
When Keith saw the instrument, he told me it wasn't a violin
- it was a viola. The difference, he said, was that
the viola was a thicker bodied instrument to produce more
resonance in the lower pitches. The height and width of the
viola is very similar to the violin, but it's thicker in the
body. I was dazed and amazed! Nobody during the 20
(approximately) years of my ownership of the instrument, had
known that this was a viola and not a violin - not even the
store which had sold it to me in the first place! So, now I
know. It's a viola.
Step #2, was to purchase a new tailpiece. The viola needed
new strings, and I wanted to go with strings having a ball
on the end, instead of strings ending in a loop. I again
brought the viola with me, thinking that it would be helpful
in case the options of choice was at all dependant on the
details of the instrument. While I was there buying the
tailpiece and strings, Keith did something very nice: He
crafted a post to insert inside the viola body, and
installed it on the spot. It took perhaps ten minutes, and
he didn't charge me a cent. He told me that violas such as
mine were supposed to have such a post inserted to support
the top of the instrument. Not only is it a structural
integrity consideration - it's a feature which makes a
difference, in the quality of sound the instrument is
capable of producing. So, I guess it's more accurate to say
that Step #2 was to buy a new tailpiece and new strings, and
have that post installed.
Step #3 in the rehab of the viola, was to clean and polish
the wood. It had never been cleaned or polished during the
20 years I'd owned it, and I decided it was about time I did
that. (Somewhere within those 20 years, I'd learned the
proper methods of caring for instrument wood.) I decided to
do the polishing as a preparations step before installing
the new tailpiece and strings, because without the strings
and tailpiece on, I had much better access to the wood.
I discovered that Step #4 was necessary, when I tried to
tune it up after the wood was treated, and the new parts
were on. You see, during the polishing process, I put some
of the polish inside the holes where the pegs go. The wood
there was very dry and brittle, and I wanted it to last
without further deterioration from the wear and tear of
tuning and re-tuning the viola. I didn't realize that it
would make it too slippery inside those holes for normal
friction to keep the pegs from slipping loose under the
string tensions. Well, I learned the truth, the moment I
tried to tune up the new strings. Contacting Keith, I
learned of the compound which one puts onto the surface of
the pegs to make them slightly sticky; less likely to slip.
One only uses a very small amount of it,... I bought some
from Keith, used it, and now the pegs don't slip loose the
way they did.
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After I finished all the things I've described, I made up an
info-page picture to include in letters to some friends
who'd seen the viola before it was fixed. I'm including that
info-page pic here:
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Here's another picture I took of the viola. This was before
the new tailpiece and strings were installed (the new tuning
screws are black). It turned out to be a fairly good
picture, with a lot less glare off the surface of the wood.
You can also tell that those are the old strings in this
picture, because there's absolutely no shine at all off them
from the camera's flash. I'm including this picture on this
page, because I like it - it shows off well, the innate
beauty of the form of the instrument.
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Tah-dah! Rehab finished. I now had an emminently playable,
sweet-sounding viola to practice on if the muse so moves me.
And, yes, I've begun dragging it out now and then, and
fiddling with it. Maybe, someday, I'll even be able to make
music on it? Time will tell.
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It's been a few years since I created this web page, and I need to add a couple of minor extra details to the
ongoing story re. this old viola. I practiced it on & off for a couple of years - that usage, lessening after
I purchased my 5-string violin. A couple of months ago, I gave the viola to my uncle Jim in the hopes that he
would use it and gain some stisfaction from doing so. He played violin as a child, so I gave it to him as an
"open-ended loan". So, that's where it is at the current time, and for the indefinite future.
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IN CONCLUSION
I hope you've enjoyed my little story about the history of
my viola, and the pictures! If there's more to tell,
I'll add it onto this page.
~~~
Scruffy Eagle
~~~
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