FIVE STRINGED INSTRUMENT FULL

The only problem is that infernal clef! And it came into its own again when the local comprehensive school needed a viola player for its production of Viva Mexico. I also used it whilst helping out with a local youth orchestra who needed an extra viola player. I took my 5-string to a fiddle workshop once, and the fiddler who led the workshop had me doing this kind of thing with it to complement what the others were doing. The C string at the bottom can be used very effectively as a drone, particularly in fiddle music. But it's not only the playing position (of the bow, that is) I also find that in anything above 4th position, because the strings tend to be that much closer together, I am stopping the correct string, but the strings either side are proud of the stopped string, so those are the strings that sound, rather than the one I am trying to play (if you see what I mean)! This is very true about adjustment, and I suppose is the reason why my 5-string doesn't come out very often. The violoncello-piccolo and the violoncello da spalla have been extant for centuries, and music has been especially. Also they feel different to play than a regular 4 string so you have adjust constantly if you play both a 4 and a 5 string often. I don't know of music that incorporates a 5 string. To see all the five string instruments I currently have available, click here.I can't see the point of a 5 string. I can certainly understand why players fall in love with the double bass, and especially the five-string double bass, with the lowest-of-the-low B-string at their beck and call. There is a special thrill, however, in building a huge instrument, seeing the “beauty of the beast,” and feeling the floor shake when I draw out long, growling bass notes with the bow. They are huge, and they completely monopolize my small workspace when they are in progress so I am more likely to default to smaller instruments. I build an occasional double bass, but they are a lot of work. (This can also be done, of course, but it does add length to the bass scroll, and presents an additional source of fragility.) People want the freedom to reach for lower bass notes without having to add a “B-Extension” to their bass. Here is a sample: Five String Cello Scroll Five-String Double Bassesįive-string double basses are increasingly common. Customers have sometimes asked about them, but usually, it was just an “idea” they had, and they were not prepared to place an order. In the near future, I hope to build a Violoncello da Spalla. I can build both, and hope to soon have some to display here, but, for the moment, I only have the violoncello piccolo. Hopefully, I will see a rising demand for these instruments, but, for the moment, they are a rarity. The violoncello-piccolo and the violoncello da spalla have been extant for centuries, and music has been especially written for both. Five-String Cellosįive-string cellos are not a new thing. I have several such instruments in stock, ranging from 14″ five-string violas to 16-1/2″ five-string violas. But not everyone can play a larger instrument, so this is a matter of personal choice.

This is just because it has a larger resonating body, both of air and wood. The difference, then, between a five-string fiddle and a larger five-string viola, is that the larger instrument will usually have deeper, richer, louder tone. Until I get an increase in demand, these will likely remain as mostly custom commissions, not just built on speculation, as are the five-string fiddles. They have the same range of pitch as a five-string fiddle, but the physical instrument is whatever size viola the customer desires. There seems to be an increasing call for 5-String Violas too. I will continue to build and sell five-string fiddles either on speculation, or on commission, as the demand increases. Hopefully, I will soon try a five-string fiddle of Bubinga and Sitka Spruce, and I am open to other experiments. I have made them of European woods as well. I have made them of domestic woods (Big Leaf Maple/Sitka Spruce, Koa/Sitka Spruce, Myrtle/Port Orford Cedar) and all those combinations worked quite well. And, it turns out, there are other woods that work quite well. Teachers like them, because they can teach the viola part or the violin part, without having to change instruments.īecause a five-string fiddle is non-traditional, I am not under the burden of using traditional woods. The neck width is just barely wider than that of a violin (25 mm), so that it plays like a violin. I have mastered this genre to the point that the low C on my five-string fiddles sound like a good, small viola.

FIVE STRINGED INSTRUMENT FULL

But, with the added Low-C-string, it carries the full range of both a violin and a viola. I get a fair amount of demand for five-string fiddles (Click the link for the website.) In my case, that usually means a five-string instrument with the same footprint and scale-length as a violin.

Five stringed instrument