Don Rickert Musical Instruments

The New Ultimate Octave (aka Baritone) Violin by D. Rickert Musical Instruments

Attention!: This is an older post. The instrument described has been replaced by the Rickert Tertis Body Tenor Viola (one octave lower than violin) 15.5 inch body size. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop.

The T-Max Tenor Long Scale Octave Violin by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and other amazing low-pitched acoustic bowed instruments are available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop.  

Introduction

Since the beginning of our adventure as an independent boutique custom lutherie (2007 officially), we have always allocated much attention to designing and making the best possible acoustic octave (aka baritone) violins and fiddles. More recently (about 4 years ago), we added acoustic octave violas (aka chin cellos) to our product offerings. Our continuous research with octave violas has become intertwined with our constant quest for the best octave violins possible. Our newest offering, the T-Max Tenor Long Scale Octave Violin is an example of nexus of octave violin and octave viola design research.

With the new T-Max Tenor, we have to revise what we mean by “ultimate.” This new instrument is the most incredible octave violin that is played on the shoulder, to date. It is the new ultimate octave violin.

The T-Max Tenor Long Scale Octave Violin

The T-Max Tenor Long Scale Octave Violin is a variation of the T-Rex Octave Viola. 

See our article, T-Rex Octave Viola by D. Rickert Musical Instruments with Demo Video.

The new instrument from D. Rickert Musical Instruments was suggested by a client. Don't know why we did not think of it first. Kudos to Dr. Jeff. The T-Max Tenor Long Scale Octave Violin is, essentially, a T-Rex Octave Viola, but strung and optimized as an Octave Violin (aka Bariton Fiddle). This instrument is not for the timid. It is the most sonorous, full-bodied and focused acoustic octave violin you will ever play, if you are up to the larger body and 14.5" scale (vs. 13" for a regular octave violin). The instrument is loud. In fact, it positively thunderous!

We can fit the instrument with a pickup bridge (we only use Barbera pickups on our instruments); however, we will not take responsibility for any breakage of windows or glassware!

The T-Max Tenor is based on a 16” Tertis wide body pattern viola (note: viola sizes are designated by their body length, expressed in inches). There are many guides on the Internet for measuring your reach to determine whether or not you can handle a 16" viola.

See the article: Measurements for Determining Correct Violin/Fiddle or Viola Size

See also the table below:

Instrument	Body Length	Neck thickness at Nut	Nut Width	Grasp	Playable String Length	Average Playable String Length	Minimum Player Left Arm Reach
Violin	14”	.5”	23mm	Narrow	12.8”	13”	23”
Fat Strad Deux Medium Nut	14”	.5”	24mm to 26mm	Narrow to Medium	12.8”	13”	23”
Fat Strad Deux Wide Nut	14”	.5”	28mm	Wide	12.8”	13”	23”
Tertis 15”	15”	.6”	26mm	Medium-Wide	13.5”	13.5”	24.5”
Tertis 15.5”	15.5”	.625”	26mm	Medium-Wide	13.9”	14”	25”
Tertis 16”	16”	.625”	27mm	Wide	14.4”	14.5”	26”
Tertis 16.5	16.5”	.626”	28mm	Wide	14.9”	15”	26.5”

About Tertis Wide Body Violas Such as the T-Max Tenor

Lionel Tertis is regarded by many as the greatest viola player of the 20th century. Tertis preferred a large viola in order to get an especially rich tone from his instrument. Tertis created a viola pattern that would provide the tonal advantages as a large 17 inch plus viola from a 16” viola, which is today regarded as a full size viola. Tertis violas are wider than violas of the same body lenths. On average, a Tertis a has:

• An upper bout that is 6% wider
• A middle bout that is 21% wider
• A lower bout that is 4.5% wider

Large But Quite Playable

As big as it looks next to a regular violin (see image that accompanies this listing), it has a 16” body. Because it is based on a Tertis viola pattern, it is really wide, making it look like a much larger instrument. The span of the lower bout is more than 10 inches. That is really wide! Nevertheless, the instrument is surprising easy to manage and hold (yes, with an extra large shoulder rest), as the rib height is a manageable 38mm; about the same as a regular 16” viola.

Some More Details About This Instrument

 Case

• Comes with a pretty nice lightweight oblong case, at no charge.

Bow

• You must use a bow suitable for a large octave violin. Choices would include:
• A standard viola bow
• A D. Rickert Specialized Octave Violin or Fiddle Bow [link], based on a carbon fiber viola bow, but with more aggressive synthetic hair (Zaralon)
• Specialized Series Light Octave Viola Bow [link] (based on a viola bow shaft). . . more aggressive synthetic hair (Zarolon)

Tuning Pegs (Graduated Sizing: the right size for each string)

• The T-Max Tenor is fitted with a special set of Wittner FineTune internally geared tuning pegs
• Rather than using one size of peg for all of the strings, the pegs on the T-Rex Tenor are graduated in size to match the extreme variation in string diameter from lowest to highest. 
• The pegs range from a large viola peg for the large diameter G-string down to a standard viola peg for the E string.

Chin Rest and Shoulder Rest

Given the size of the T-Max Tenor, 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 a Kun shoulder rest and a Strad or Guarneri over-the-tailpiece chin rest, there would be no additional charge.

 

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Attention!: This is an older post. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop.

How good can an acoustic octave viola sound? The T-Rex Octave Viola sets the standard. 

Note

The T-Rex Octave Viola by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and other amazing low-pitched acoustic bowed instruments are available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop.

Go Right to YouTube for Demo

T-Rex Octave Viola Demo on YouTube

Introduction

Since the inception of our ongoing adventure as an independent boutique custom lutherie (began in 2007 officially), we have always allocated much attention to designing and making the best possible acoustic octave (aka baritone) violins and fiddles. More recently (about 4 years ago), we added acoustic octave violas (aka “chin cellos”) to our product offerings.

Our Initial Goal for Octave Violas

When we stepped into the octave viola arena, our goal was simple: To develop an instrument that sounded a lot better than the original “ChinCellos”, cleverly marketed by a large Asian manufacturer with an Italian-sounding name.

These original “ChinCellos”, still sold today through the large online musical instrument mega-stores, are basically student-level instruments set up with special octave viola strings (made by SuperSensitive) and tuned to the same notes (i.e. frequencies) as a full-size cello. The maker claims internal modifications to increase sonority. We assume that this would be some kind of modification to the bass bar.

These instruments sound about as good as an $800 converted student instrument could sound. To summarize, their sound is somewhat muffled with a particularly weak-sounding C-string. They do not sound anything like a full-size cello.

To be fair, they do sound pretty good with a decent pickup installed and played through an amplifier.

Our Quest for an Amazing Chin Cello

Over several years of experimentation and very patient original customers, we discovered the lutherie secrets for generating great sound from purpose-built (i.e. not converted regular instruments) octave VIOLINS. Unfortunately, those trade secrets did not apply in any direct way with octave VIOLAs. It really was difficult to coax amazing power from that pesky low C-string.

Special bass bars and deeper bodies achieved more volume but not the cello-like focused sound we were going for. We could not even get that elusive sharp, focused, rich and sonorous sound from small cellos suspended by a guitar-like shoulder strap (called a Violoncello da Spalla).

Our Discovery of the Tertis Wide-Body Viola Pattern

Lionel Tertis is regarded by many as the greatest viola player of the 20th century. Tertis preferred a large viola in order to get an especially rich tone from his instrument. Tertis created a viola pattern that would provide the tonal advantages as a large 17.5 inch viola from a 16 inch viola, which is today regarded as a full size viola. Tertis violas are considerably wider than conventional violas of the same body lenths, especially in the middle bout. This extreme body width with a relatively shallow depth seems to be the source of the acoustic magic of a Tertis body.

Tertis pattern instruments have the appearance of incredibly large violas; however, their playable string lengths and rib heights are standard. In the case of a 16” instrument, the string length would be about 14.5” and the rib height of about 38mm.

The T-Rex Octave Viola

Through our business relationships with the top Asian lutheries (yes, there are some really great master luthiers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea these days), we sorted out having the T-Rex instruments partially made to our specifications. They are then completed in our Hiwassee, GA, USA workshops. We can make you one completely in our U.S. workshop for about 4 times the price ($8,500+)…and it will not sound any better!

The primary work we do on the instrument is fine-tuning of the top graduations and occasional bar adjustments, as well as a quite unique setup using a Dov Schmidt “Harp” tailpiece to which we attach the strings in a most unconventional way, per discoveries we learned from the great maker of large violas and, at one time, octave violins, David Ravinus. Our stringing practice is a complex topic for another time. Trust me: the compensated tailpiece; unique stringing and setup makes the difference between sounding really good and amazing!

How Does it Sound?

Large But Quite Playable 

As big as it looks next to a regular violin (see image), it has a 16” body. Because it is based on a Tertis viola pattern, it is really wide, making it look like a much larger instrument. The span of the lower bout is more than 10 inches. That is really wide! Nevertheless, the instrument is surprising easy to manage and hold (yes, with an extra large shoulder rest), as the rib height is a manageable 38mm; about the same as a regular 16” viola.

Find Out More

You can visit the T-Rex product listing details at the Don Rickert Musician Shop Site.

We do wish to stress that this instrument is only to be played with a high-quality cello bow!

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Don Rickert Musician Shop is Unique: Part 1 (Hard to Find Stuff)

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop.

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 20^th 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.

See the Custom Shop at Don Rickert Musician Shop.