Everybody wants to hear what an instrument will sound like before making a considerable financial commitment. People also want to see examples of workmanship...and who doesn't enjoy eye candy?
Here are links to important demonstration videos of the Violoncellos da Spalla and other instruments we have completed in approximately the last three years, all in one place. You will also find photos of most of the instruments we have built in the same time period.
You will find additional demos not shown here within individual product listings in our online store, the Don Rickert Musician Shop.
Demo Videos of Violoncellos da Spalla by Don Rickert
Don Rickert Musical Instruments is a premiere designer and maker of innovative custom and historic musical instruments. Since starting our musical instruments enterprise in 2007, we have dealt primarily in those of the bowed variety (e.g. violins, fiddles and related instruments such as octave fiddles). We have also designed and made a number of fretted instruments along the way: mandolins, parlor guitars, acoustic bass guitars, tenor guitars and the like. We will soon be branching out in a serious way into the world of fretted musical instruments. Look forward to some really interesting mandolins, octave mandolins, mandocellos, parlor guitars, acoustic bass guitars, tenor guitars and the like.
Regular production items are usually available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. If you want something that is not there, give us a call...
Our email is [email protected] and main phone number is (706) 896-0909. Don Rickert's mobile phone number is (706) 400-1481
Mailing address: Don Rickert Musical Instruments 726 Hall Creek Road Hiawassee, GA 30546
This is the primary website and blog for Don Rickert Musical Instruments .
We are NOT a "Brick-and-Mortar" Retail Establishment Nor a Typical Online Operation (We are Better!)
We are not a “brick-and-mortar” retail establishment; however, many customers do choose to visit our studio and workshop in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains (part of the Appalachians). Being shopkeepers for a corner musical instrument shop would be completely at odds with our multifaceted focus on continuous research & development, innovative instrument design and customization, combined with our creation of meticulously accurate replicas of historically significant fiddles.
The nature of our business demands that sales be conducted primarily online. We have done this for some time. The predecessor to the new Don Rickert Musician Shopwas called the “Adventurous Muse Store.” We initially operated under the name “Fiddle and Bow Shop.”
Please note that this site has been around for a good while. While working diligently to clear out the "junk" (old obsolete articles), this is going to take some time. We thank you for your patience during this period and offer a blanket apology for any incorrect links to our old online store.
This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments, a highly regarded designer and maker of acoustic purpose-built octave violins and violas, as well as 4-string and 5-string electric violins. All of these instruments are sold via Don Rickert Musician Shop.
Introduction
This is the second (see Part I) in a three part series on the topic of using a 4-string or 5-string electric violin (and acoustic instruments with the right kind of pickup installed) together with the necessary effect signal processors to achieve a sound either one or two octaves lower than the violin’s or viola’s actual tuning.
Part I of this series introduced the possibility of “going electric.” It also acknowledged the reasons why someone would want to stay with an acoustic solution. Further, Part I also suggested a compromise approach, an acoustic instrument with the right kind of pickup installed.
This installment is all about the advantages of the electronic approach to octave synthesis and the challenges associated with a purely acoustic approach, especially with 5-string octave violas.
Advantages of a Real Electric Violin (as Opposed to an Acoustic with a Pickup)
The best electric violins come in a wide variety of shapes. Most are some variation of a solid body, chambered body or “skeletal”. They all have several things in common:
A substantial mass of material (usually wood) directly under the bridge
A bridge pickup with greater mass than a regular bridge (almost always a Barbera bridge on the best instruments)
Ergonomic aspects that make the instruments easier to hold while playing
Incredible bow response
Anyone who has had the pleasure of playing a high-end electric violin knows this to be true: The bow is far more responsive than with an acoustic instrument. This is a physics phenomenon having to do with the greater mass under the strings. I will leave it to physicist to explain exactly how this works. In simple practical terms, you can play faster, more accurately and with better nuance with a full-on electric violin. Also, unless you need the string height for violin techniques such as vibrato, you can usually get away with substantially lower string height on a real electric violin (at the nut as well as the bridge).
Bottom line: an electric violin with a good bow (carbon fiber, of course) helps you to be a more amazing player! For the fundamentalist anti-electric bigots. An electric violin does NOT make a beginner sound great. It merely helps the experienced player to realize his or her full potential.
If your goal is to play music in the cello range with a conventionally tuned electric violin, the amazing aspect is even more profound. Read on…
Playing an octave, or even two octaves, lower using electronic octave synthesis vs. playing one octave lower on a a specially set up and strung acoustic octave violin or viola.
Have you ever played an octave violin or viola? Even a good 4-string octave violin or viola, such as the ones that we (D. Rickert Musical Instruments) make is challenging to play. A 5-string octave violin or viola takes the difficulty level up a notch to wickedly difficult. Let us explore why.
Note: Keep in mind that we have been designing and making some of the world’s finest acoustic octave violins and violas for almost a decade. We love these instruments, as do our customers. Owing to our enduring love affair with acoustic octave instruments, we are intimately familiar with their limitations when compared to electric violins. We are telling it like it is! You should not expect anything less than the whole truth as we see it.
String height
Unlike a regular violin, and especially unlike an electric violin, the string height of octave violins and violas, particularly 5-string instruments with super fat C strings, must be quite high in order to accommodate the extreme vibration arc of the large diameter, low tuned octave strings. String vibrational movement on bowed instruments is primarily up and down; hence, the fingerboard buzz that is well familiar to players of all larger bowed string. Much force at the fingertips is necessary to push those fat strings to the fingerboard.
String diameters
With a normally tuned 5-string violin, the difference in thickness between the lowest string (C3 or C below middle C, which is indicated as C4) and the highest string (E5) is about a 2:1 ratio. In other words, the lowest string is about 2X (200%) that of the highest string. This difference is below the problem threshold for experienced players. Even if it were a problem, there is not much that could be done about it...those pesky laws of physics!
With a 5-string octave tuned viola, the lowest to highest string thickness ratio can be as much as 4.5:1 or 450%!
This dramatic difference between string diameters makes double-stopping quite difficult. It can be difficult to avoid touching adjacent strings when playing open string drones.
With dedication and practice, many learn to overcome the difficulties described. More than a few do not. They simply give up on becoming a good octave violin or octave viola player.
Bowing
Playing a standard 4-string acoustic octave violin (no low C string) generally requires a viola bow or a special octave violin bow with very aggressive synthetic hair. For playing an octave viola, which always has a low C string, regardless of whether it is a 4-string or 5-string, some players use an extra stiff viola bow (often with aggressive synthetic hair); however, I would say that the majority uses a cello bow.
Regardless of the type of bow used, all octave violins and octave violas require a slower attack, more deliberate (more muscle required) bowing than either a 4-string or 5-string violin, especially an electric violin. Put another way, the acoustic versions of these octave-tuned instruments are bowed like a large viola or cello, a style of bowing that is quite different from violin bowing and well-understood by experienced violists. Viola style bowing really limits playing speed and requires greater physical effort. Ignoring this rule results in an unfocused “mush” of notes, screeches, scraping, etc.
Bowing more strings than you intend to bow
Remember the matter of the large difference in diameter between the highest string and the lowest strings on octave instruments? The most extreme case is that of a 5-string octave viola. I discussed the left-hand (fingering) issues. Well, here is what happens at the bridge end.
You start out with an acceptable bridge arc. The illustration shows what happens to that lovely bridge arc. As the strings get thicker on the bass side, you end up with an effective bridge arc that is as flat as any fiddle set up for old school Old-Time fiddling. Trying to cleanly bow the lower 3 strings becomes quite difficult.
A partial remedy is a significant “Hill bevel” in the fingerboard, as illustrated below.
This allows lowering the nut under the C, and sometimes, the G-strings. A more extreme arc can then but carved into the bridge, alleviating the problem somewhat. This can only be done with an acoustic bridge, and not with a Barbera transducer bridge.
None of the above is necessary for a 5-string conventionally tuned electric violin!
Part III of this series will focus on the nuts and bolts of how you achieve lower octaves with an electric violin.
This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments, a highly regarded designer and maker of acoustic purpose-built octave violins and violas, as well as 4-string and 5-string electric violins. All of these instruments are sold via Don Rickert Musician Shop. We have no reason for bias on the topic of acoustic vs. electric instruments, as we make both! Hopefully this lack of bias is reflected in the following article.
Introduction
This is the first in a three part series on the topic of using a 4-string or 5-string electric violin (and acoustic instruments with the right kind of pickup installed) together with the necessary effect signal processors to achieve a sound either one or two octaves lower than the violin’s or viola’s actual tuning. Our focus here is on achieving lower octaves; however the principles apply to other amazing sonic feats as well, such as playing harmony to your own playing in real time, or generating the sound of sympathetic strings, such as would be found on a contemporary Hardanger fiddle or a Baroque Viola d’Amore.
In this first article, I address the matter of whether an electronic option to violin octave synthesis is a desirable alternative for you.
Our Acoustic Bowed Octave Instruments
When we started our company almost a decade ago, it was the musical instruments division of Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC (DBA Don Rickert Research & Design), a design research and new product development firm.
Our musical instrument endeavor, originally called V-Gear™, is now called D. Rickert Musical Instruments, whose online retail operation is, today, called the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Our original focus was creation of “impossible” acoustic instruments, specifically:
Travel violins and fiddles with a decent sound and were, rather than essentially toys, ergonomically identical to full size violins (same body and playable scale length, detachable chin rest and shoulder rest, etc.)
Designing and making the best acoustic octave violins in the world: This translated to creating instruments that were powerful, loud and sounded amazing, all without the aid of amplification.
Due to our obsession with continuous improvement based on customer feedback and the fact that we are part of a company that invents new things, both our travel violins and octave violins have evolved dramatically, resulting in our current product offerings for both classes of instrument. We now have octave violas as well as octave violins. See relevant product listings at the Don Rickert Musician Shop:
Electronically Synthesized Octave Violins and Violas
We are about to suggest a different way of achieving a sound one or even two octaves lower than a regular violin or viola. This alternative involves the use of a conventionally tuned electric violin or viola in conjunction with signal processing equipment to achieve a very satisfying octave conversion.
In practice, a 5-string electric violin makes the most sense, as it covers the ranges of both the violin and viola. If you prefer the longer strings of a viola (e.g. because you are a violist), a 5-string electric viola, which is tuned just like a 5-string electric violin, makes good sense.
Doing the octave conversion electronically is actually the preferred method for many performing artists, as there are many advantages, which I will discuss below.
There is an important topic that must be addressed first: Why an acoustic solution might be best for you. In other words, why electric instruments, electronic signal processors, amplifiers and the like might NOT be a good fit for you.
Why an Acoustic (NOT Electric) Solution Might be Best For You
You just don’t like the idea of electric instruments
If you are of sufficient age, you were horrified when Bob Dylan “went electric.” If you are younger, you WOULD have been horrified. We understand this. I mean really; our company has grown based on its acoustic instruments. Of course, we have done many custom electric instruments along the way and have entered electronic instruments in major musical instrument design competitions.
Anyway, the emotional attachment to true acoustic instruments is understood and respected here.
The cost (i.e. money limitations)
The cost of an acoustic octave violin or viola from us averages about $2,000, plus the cost of a decent appropriate bow (about $500). An electric violin capable of lower octave synthesis can be higher. Our current high-end hand-made electric 5-string violins are just shy of $3,000.
Note: We just announced two really nice electric violins that cost less than $2000 in 4-string configuration. Yes, they both are capable of lower octave synthesis. See:
A “living room” or small venue amplifier and the minimal signal processing equipment for achieving good-sounding octave synthesis can be had for about $500. Going beyond the bare minimum can quickly get much more expensive.
So, the cost of entry is a bit higher, but not really that much more than an acoustic instrument.
You believe that an electronically synthesized octave violin or viola cannot sound as good as an acoustic octave violin or viola
This simply not true. With a high-quality instrument and necessary external equipment, a very realistic sound of an acoustic octave violin and/or viola can be achieved. If you remove the “realistic” sounding constraint, an electric violin playing a synthetic octave lower can sound much better than any acoustic instrument. But you may remain unconvinced about electric violins and their associated peripheral equipment.
Your intended use requires an acoustic instrument
There are many musical situations that fall into this category, such as…
You travel with your instruments for the purpose of jamming with musicians located at your destinations. When I used to “commute” to work in Dublin, Ireland (alternating 2 weeks in Ireland, 2 weeks in the States), I always had at least 2 acoustic fiddles (often one an octave fiddle) with me for pub jam sessions (simply called “sessions” in Ireland).
Contrary to popular belief, air travel is quite easy with a pair of full-size acoustic violins in a double case. You just have to get used to having to check all of you other baggage.
You play in an all-acoustic group
You compete in fiddle competitions, none of which allow amplified fiddles…you gotta’ use a microphone (You would not normally use an octave fiddle, acoustic or not, for this purpose anyway.).
Anyway, you get the idea.
If You Are “On the Fence” Regarding the Acoustic vs. Electric Question?
There is an option that is a pretty good compromise. That would be a reasonable quality “intermediate” or better acoustic violin with the right type of pickup system installed. The result is an acoustic-electric fiddle. Even the most acoustically oriented professional fiddlers use pickups on their instruments. I have seen fiddlers in even the most traditional Old-Time string bands use a pickup.
Don Rickert Musician Shop routinely installs Barbera pickups on acoustic violins and violas in such a manner that they can be easily removed when you want to use your regular bridge. The pickup, including a wired polycarbonate tailpiece (with gain control) and unobtrusive side-mounted clamp-on output jack of our design, costs $550. A fancier tailpiece, such as a Dov Schmidt “Harp” and installation of Wittner FineTune internally geared tuning pegs (highly recommended) adds a bit (about $250) to the cost. We are currently finishing up such an installation on a T-Rex Octave Viola and will post some photos when completed.
In Part II of This Series, I will deal with the advantages of the electric violin approach.
Attention!: We have more recent articles about Travel Violins. Better still - See the Travel and Backpacker Fiddle category at the Don Rickert Musician Shop.
Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins
D. Rickert Musical Instruments makes some of the world’s finest Modern Travel Violins (aka Backpacker Fiddles) and more models (6 models currently; one a 5-string). We also make two Pochette models; one a Baroque (early to mid-1700s) and one a Pre-Modern (1780s). All of these instruments are available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop.
Travel and Backpacker Violins and Fiddles by D. Rickert Musical Instruments
These are instruments that look superficially like Barqoue pochettes (pocket fiddles); however, they are full-length violins intended for backpacking and travel. All of our travel and backpacker violins are full 4/4 length instruments with chin rests and shoulder rest adapters. They are very popular among traveling classical violinists as well as adventure-loving fiddlers. Unlike the cheap travel fiddles that cost much less than ours on the market, ours respond to the bow like a full-size instrument and are quite sonorous...be sure to watch the videos below.
How Good Can a Travel Violin Sound?
Most makers of modern travel violins will tell you that they sound good. When we tell you that ours sound amazing, watch the following videos to hear for yourself what we mean by amazing…
We have been talking about a new travel violin to supersede the Neil Gow 22XL Travel Violin for several years. It is not that we do not like the Gow Travel Violin. We always felt that we could get a more full-bodied and balanced sound from an instrument of similar size (14” long x 3.25” wide, at the widest point). After many tries, involving countless prototypes, we achieved success. We call the new instrument the “Mountain Lion”.
At some point (soon!) we will have a video demo of the Mountain Lion Travel Violin. We can tell you that it sounds almost as good as the one played by Nathan Aldridge in the first video above (we do not see the possibility of ever making a travel violin that sounds better than the Custom Deep Body Travel Violin – Viola played by Nathan) and a little bit better than the one played by Troy Parker in the second video.
The instrument played by Troy Parker is an Adventurer II. We no longer make this instrument on a regular production basis, as it is too expensive to build, given its internal labyrinth of tuned porting that rivals the complexity of a Bose speaker enclosure (we still make them on a custom basis for those willing to pay the hefty price…about $3,000).
What we are now calling the Deep Body Custom Travel Violin/Viola has become one of the most popular instruments we have ever sold. It is definitely the best-sounding pochette-type travel violin we have ever produced. Interestingly enough, not a single customer has opted for a 4-string octave violin (aka baritone violin) configuration. Rather, to date, we have made the following configurations for customers:
4-string standard violin or viola tuning (base price applies to this configuration)
5-string violin/viola with standard 5-string violin neck (this is what most customers buy)
5-string violin/viola with custom extra-wide 5-string neck
6 sympathetic strings that run through a channel under the fingerboard and then through a special cut-out in the bridge (i.e. the sympathetic string bridge) and attached to metal hooks on the underside of the tailpiece (just like a Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle)
This last instrument is interesting, as it is used by a performer of Hindi Classical Music living in Australia. In Indian classical music, the violin or viola is played with the musician sitting in something like a lotus position. The instrument end rests on the upper chest (we made the buyer a special chest rest for that purpose). The finial (e.g. scroll), in the case of this instrument, a viola d’Amore blindfolded muse (Baroque symbol of True Love), is held by the player’s toes. Only a picture can really convey how this is done.
This is our most popular travel violin (it is also our most popular instrument regardless of type)
The Rickert Mountaineer IV Backpacker Fiddle is a really skinny (but full 4/4 length) travel fiddle that is extremely durable for the most punishing environments. This instrument and its predecessors have now been on journeys in the U.S., Europe, U.K., Canada, Middle East, North Africa and the African sub-continent.
The instrument is just 2 inches wide and is standard 4/4 length (body just under 14", playable string length of 13”, and total length about 23").
The Mountaineer utilizes an innovative internal bracing, which performs the critical functions of the sound post (damping shrill high frequency overtones while enhancing mid and low frequency overtones). The advantage is that the Mountaineer IV can withstand shock and extreme temperatures without the risk of the sound post falling out of place. The new Mountaineer IV, unlike its predecessors, uses a separate bass bar (not part of the internal framing).
The sound?
The instrument is quite loud (louder than a regular violin), and well balanced across all four strings. It is NOT shrill or “tinny”. Rather it tends to favor the mid-range. While having as much bass punch as a 2-inch wide instrument could possibly have, it is somewhat less than what we would call full-bodied.
Basically, it gets the job done sonically for those whose needs require such a small instrument. It does quite well in impromptu jam session due to its shear volume and mid-range bias.
The Frequent Flyer Travel Violin is designed for players who need a travel instrument that can be easily be packed inside of a suitcase or carry-on bag.
It is based on the Mountaineer IV (see product description for the Mountaineer IV above), but has very special structural enhancements, which allow for the easy removal and reattachment of the neck. The entire instrument, together with its accessories and a take-apart bow, fits into two small boxes, which, themselves easily fit into one’s luggage. The photos illustrate how it works.
Like the Mountaineer IV, the Phantom Shoulder Rest is an available option.
The sound is almost as good as the Mountaineer IV. The Mountaineer IV is a bit more sonorous due to the latter’s permanently set neck, using a traditional modern violin mortised neck joint.
The Neil Gow 21C, the predecessor of the Neil Gow XL Travel Violin, while actually quite modern under the surface, is based on our extremely popular Neil Gow Pochette, an interpretation of an 18th Century pochette (pocket fiddle or kit) on display in the Burrell Museum in Glasgow, Scotland. The bodies of the Neil Gow Pochette and its modern descendant, the Neil Gow 21C by Don Rickert Musical Instruments, while longer than the historic original on which their design is based, and have a full 4/4 size playable string length (nut to bridge), of 13 inches. This is one inch shorter than a 4/4 conventional violin. Most players do not notice this small difference in body length. For other musicians, especially novice and intermediate players, that one inch difference is important. For this reason, and to add a few more cubic inches of internal air space, the Neil Gow XL Travel Violin body is a full 14 inches long, which is the same a regular violin or fiddle.
Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments) is the place to go for unique instruments that are either very hard or even impossible to find anywhere else.
Some examples:
Travel / Backpacker Violins and Fiddles
We make and sell the finest innovative and ergonomically perfect travel/backpacker violins in the world. Several dozen customers a year opt for one of our travel violins, despite the fact that they cost from 3 to 4 times as much as our apparent competitors.
5-String Violins
We make and sell one of best 5-string violins that money can buy (note: There ARE some very fine 5-string instruments by competitors). We also sell the very nice new 5-String acoustic-electric Realist violin by David Gage. We also make and sell an incredible 5-string travel violin.
Octave Violins and Violas
We make the most advanced and best-sounding octave violins and octave violas (aka “chin cellos”). Dr. Rickert has been researching acoustic octave violins for more than 15 years. He has designed a number of such instruments over the past decade, each new one better than the rest. We sell a lot of these. Top recording artists own a number of them.
Tertis Wide-Body Violas in all Sizes
We are one of the only U.S. based sources of extremely high quality Tertis wide-body violas, in sizes from 15” to 16.5” (note: viola size is designated by the length of the instrument body, from the saddle to the neck joint). These instruments are made for us by one of the top luthiers in China.
Learn more about Tertis violas, which are named after Lionel Tertis, certainly one of the most highly regarded violists of the 20th Century…some say the greatest violist ever!
The Custom Shop
Since our beginning, a surprisingly large part of our business has been comprised of custom instruments that began with a phone call or email that started with something like “I have this idea…could you guys make it?” I think that this reputation for building unique instruments probably originated from the eccentricity of some of our earliest designs for baritone fiddles and travel violins.
Over the years, we have made a number of one-of-a-kind instruments; some of them truly outrageously cool! One of the coolest instruments, of which we are quite proud, is a 10-string 3” wide pochette (pocket violin)…4 playable strings with 6 sympathetic strings running under the fingerboard (similar to the Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle and the Baroque Viola D’Amore). We affectionately call this instrument the Pochette D’Amore.
And nobody here will ever forget the incredible electric cigar box fiddle that we made for “Reverend Snake”, at the time the fiddle player of the “Prodigal String Band. We made a purely acoustic copy of the "ReverendSnake" fiddle for the well-known an truly one-of-a-kind Irish performance artist, actor and fiddler, Aindrias de Staic, who is pictured here. Aindrias is an Irishman of Gypsy descent based in Galway, Ireland. You can find videos of his one man show performances on YouTube. His stories about growing up as a Gypsy in Ireland will make you laugh and cry, but mostly laugh...for mature audiences only (language).
Anyway, we now have a bona fide “Custom Shop” and have established a way for musicians with out-of-the-ordinary musical ideas requiring extraordinary instruments.
The Custom Shop is also where our own new concepts are shown prior to becoming regular production items.
David Thames Demonstrating Fat Strad Deux 5-String Mezzo Viola
David Thames Playing Fat Strad Deux 5-String Mezzo Viola Accompanying a Violin
David, a violist and cellist (who also plays violin) is accompanying violinist and fiddler, Mary Ann Thames, who is playing her cool Lion Head fiddle. They are playing a baroque liturgical canon.
David, a violist and cellist (who also plays violin) is accompanying violinist and fiddler, Mary Ann Thames, who is playing her cool Lion Head fiddle. They are playing a baroque liturgical canon.
This instrument is NOT for a beginner who likes the idea of having a low C or D string (D is a more common note than C for an experienced 5-String player). Becoming proficient on a 5-String fiddle takes practice beyond that necessary to play a standard fiddle.
The Fat Strad Deux 5-String Fiddle is made for…
Professional and advanced fiddlers looking for 5-string fiddle that:
Has string spacing wide enough to be actually playable
Volume, depth, deep tone and sheer raw power of a championship level fiddle across all 5 strings
The awesome responsiveness and power of the C string is not achieved at the expense of the responsiveness and sound of the e” string, or vice versa.
The Fat Strad Deux in 5-string configuration is simply the best 5-string violin you will find anywhere!
Don Rickert Musician Shop, D. Rickert, Musical Instruments, Fat Strad, Deux, small viola, fiddle, octave viola, 5-string, bass bar, mezzo viola, 8vb, 4-string, Octave Violin
The B-Rex II 5-String Octave Viola by D. Rickert Musical Instruments has proven to be an extremely popular instrument for fiddlers, violinists and violists looking for a powerful acoustic low voice tuned EXACTLY like a full-size cello, with the added benefit of a fifth string at the high end tuned to the high E of a octave violin.
The B-Rex II 5-String is a 15” or 15.5” body* viola that is tuned an octave lower than a violin (the first 4 strings), making it quite large-bodied octave violin (i.e. tenor). Strings 2 to 5 are tuned an octave lower than a viola (i.e. identical to a full size cello), making it a “chin cello” (i.e. baritone) as well. You can think of the B-Rex II either as…
An octave viola with an extra octave E string at the high end
A big burly octave violin or fiddle with an extra octave C string at the low end.
* Note: with violas, the standard 4/4, 3/4, etc. size designations used for violins do not apply; rather, one refers to the length of the instrument body in inches, even today, when the metric system is the international standard.
With top and back dimensions about the same as a smallish standard 15” or 15.5” body viola, making it ergonomically feasible for most adult players.
Key Dimensions:
Upper bout width: 7 1/8"
Middle bout width: 5 1/4"
Lower bout width of the body: 9 1/2"
Rib depth: 45mm (an increase over the 41mm ribs of the original B-Rex)
The dimension that differs radically from a regular 15” body viola is the depth. The B-Rex II 5-String has a rib depth of 45mm (>1 3/4"), compared to about 36mm (1 3/8”) of a typical 15” Viola.
Translates to an incredible approximate 55 additional cubic inches of air volume inside the sound box!
How the B-Rex II is Different
Several characteristics differentiate the B-Rex 5-String from a regular small viola strung with octave strings.
Extreme sonic power and deep timbre throughout its entire range (even the low C string)
Ergonomic features that make it possible to actually play!
Adequate string spacing at BOTH the nut and the bridge
How the incredible sound is achieved
For the B-Rex II, it is primarily a matter of body size, specifically the large air volume inside of the instrument body. Other factors for the B-Rex II’s powerful sonority include:
A specially graduated top
The design of the bass bar
A neck angle allowing for a high bridge
A composite (spruce, ebony and maple) fingerboard that is more resonant than the usual
A sound post that is cut and placed in just the right place
Key Features
The Finest "Old School" Classical Italian Style Varnishing (and non-toxic / zero VOC to boot)
Specially graduated fingerboard to accommodate the large diameter C-string
Allows for arching of the nut and bridge that affords for ease of playing while avoiding string buzz.
Wider fingerboard to allow for better string spacing at the nut and bridge
Adds to the playability benefits of the specially graduated fingerboard
Fingering and/or bowing adjacent strings unintentionally is a thing of the past.
Choice of Fingerboard
Maple
Ebony-maple composite
Innovative New Peg Box
Designed specifically to avoid the frequent breakage of strings typically associated with 5-string octave violas
Tuning Pegs (Graduated Sizing: the right size for each string)
The B-Rex II is fit with Wittner FineTune internally geared pegs.
Rather than using one size of peg for all of the strings, the pegs on the B-Rex II are graduated in size to match the extreme variation in string diameter from lowest to highest.
The pegs range from a small cello peg for the cello-sized C-string down to a normal viola peg for the e string.
Given the size of the B-Rex II, we work with the customer to determine the ergonomically correct combination of chin rest and shoulder rest to match the musician’s physique. We apply a $100 credit to the chin rest and shoulder rest. For the most common setup of the new Everest ergonomic shoulder rest and a Strad or Guarneri over-the-tailpiece chin rest, there would be no additional charge.
