YankeeHotel - Posted - 12/22/2022:  07:52:08

As a luthier, what can be done to improve the sound of an inexpensive violin or viola in the physical sense?

I bought a $1000 viola a couple years ago, and even after trying several different strings, tweaking the soundpost, etc, I'm really unimpressed with the sound. It's not horrible, but it's also not fun to listen to. At the time, I was naive about the price/quality scale of violas and what I would need to spend to get a "good" one. I've tried selling it, but I'm finding there's basically zero market for violas of any price. I prefer violas over violins, so I don't understand that, but it is what it is.

However, I'm an amateur luthier, and I know how to take apart guitars and violins. Since I'm not interested in playing this viola as-is and can't sell it, is there anything I can do internally to improve the sound? I spoke with a local professional luthier once who said that's what he commonly does. He'll buy a cheap Chinese-made instrument or kit, and then "fix" it internally to make it sound a lot better. However, I wasn't able ask him more about his methodology.

How is this commonly done? Reshape the top plate? Re-carve the bassbar? Change the finish?

The Violin Beautiful - Posted - 12/22/2022:  18:01:21

There are a number of things that go into improving an instrument, such as regraduation, reshaping a bar, putting a new one in, adjusting projection, reshaping the neck, reshaping the fingerboard, revarnishing, and doing a new setup.



The shop where I work part time has specialized in this during the last 50 years of its life.

I have to disagree about there not being a viola market. We can't keep up with demand for some of ours. There are several makers who just make violas. 

Edited by - The Violin Beautiful on 12/22/2022 18:16:24

KCFiddles - Posted - 12/27/2022:  13:10:45

You can do some pretty amazing things with setup. just getting the bridge and sound post right can make a huge difference, but bad wood and bad arching set their own limitations. It takes quite a while to learn to do setups right if you don't have someone to show you. 

As for violas, I don't even try to sell violas, and yet I've sold quite a few this year from student to pro level, and I've got yet another pro level I'm working on. I may even have to start stocking some.