Slow, Chordal Tune to Demo New Octave Fiddle

[gibsonpaddy]

Marry me ha ha im a Banjo player from Ireland

[DoctorFiddle]

Thank you!

Don

[StupidUchihas]

That. is. cool!

[MILKIEONE]

This sounds cool! I study violin and viola and I have never heard of octave violin before. I'd like to try it! Did you just tune your violin down an octave or did you buy special strings for it?

[DoctorFiddle]

One more thing, Natalie Haas uses a French 'cello bow on her Rickert & Ringholz-Fiddarci Lutherie Octave Violin, man!

[broken1308]

loosen your bow man!

[DoctorFiddle]

In case you missed the last response, which apparently you did, it's an IncrediBow, which has a reverse camber like an extreme Baroque bow. Also, Darci, when last we checked, is a woman and not a man, man!

[assa123assa123]

you checked? =O A close company then.

She's definitely a lovely lady from first sight =)

BTW, do you come across harmonics problem with octave strings? mine seem to excite now and then not on the right tone. and I'm starting to blame the bow - too light a violin bow is... and when I press hard and bow slowly - less pronounced harmonics problem but the stick scratches the strings.. Pretty playing we see here =)

[DoctorFiddle]

I must remain mum on the first point. Shep Jones, my biz partner, is Darci's husband!

The harmonics issue is a real problem with octave violins. We have dealt with it with bassbar mods, soundpost placement and aperture size of the sound holes with respect to the internal airspace, which is much greater in a purpose-built octave like ours. I think that an expert soundpost adjustment is about your only option with a re-strung regular fiddle. A good luthier can do wonders.

[DoctorFiddle]

I have been thinking about your harmonics problem. They actually are a form of "wolf tone", which players of really powerful violas are well familar with. I am thinking that you may have some luck with using a Tourte mute, aka performance mute. Tourte mutes do not mute too much...just a bit...that might help a lot. Try a clothspin first to see if the mute solution is worth pursuing.

[violaplayer1995]

oh and.. your bow is about to burst i believe.

[DoctorFiddle]

It's an IncrediBow viola bow. The extreme camber (reverse vis-a-vis a Tourte bow) is a distinguishing characteristic of the bow. I actually like a Glasser Octagonal braided carbon fiber bow (a Tourte type) better on the instrument (more power), but Darci likes the 28 gram weight of the IncrediBow.

[violaplayer1995]

sounds like a viola!

[DoctorFiddle]

Not sure your comment was intended as a compliment, but I will take it as such. This instrument does sound a lot like a larger viola, but an octave lower than a violin, and with same the vibrating string length of a violin. Thanks for the feedback.

DR

[violaplayer1995]

ya it was a compliment. i love the sound and the playing! :]