SIZE DOES MATTER

Viola players everywhere know the difficulty in finding the perfect instrument – but how many realise the differences that size, shape and weight can make to playability and tone? William Castle gives a step-by-step guide to finding the one that’s right for you

Any viola player who has ever played an instrument other than their own will appreciate that they come in various shapes and sizes. However, like shoes, violas that are ostensibly the same size as each other can still feel quite different. The reason for this is that although they may have the same back length, which is how we generally categorise viola size, the other dimensions can vary considerably. The classification according to back length may seem like a useful shorthand, but it is an oversimplification which ignores as much useful information as it imparts. To understand why, we need to understand how various aspects of viola size affect the player’s body.

VIOLA SIZE AND YOUR BODY

When you put a viola under your chin, the first thing you are likely to notice is how far you need to extend your left arm to play in first position. The left arm extension is well recognised as being important, and for many players it is the key factor regarding size. This is because holding your arm out is hard, and the further your arm is extended the more effort is required, both to hold the arm up and to move your fingers.

Once you start to play, your attention moves to how far apart your fingers need to be to play in tune. The finger spacing is entirely dependent on the length of the string, a long string length being particularly noticeable when playing in first position and when doing wide double-stops, especially if you have small hands or short fingers.

The third factor, which often goes unnoticed, is how far your bow arm needs to be in front of your body.This obviously varies depending on how close to the bridge you want to play at any given moment, but it also depends on the position of the bridge, specifically the distance between it and the bottom of the instrument which sits next to your neck. The bridge position varies significantly between instruments; if the bridge is too far from the player’s body, there is a tendency to move the right shoulder forward.

These important variables are very easy to measure, although they are not usually referred to by musicians or instrument makers. Many makers understandably tend to focus on the measurements that relate to the instrument’s construction and proportions, rather than those that tell the musician how big an instrument feels when it is played.

These photos show a musician playing two violas. The one on the left has a back length of 387mm, the one on the right 413mm. The amount of bend in the elbow when playing in first position is significantly different. When playing the larger viola, the stretch of the arm does not look excessive, but despite her arms not being short in relation to her height, the 1.7m tall violist immediately noticed the increased strain, saying the larger viola felt heavier. In fact it is only 20 grams heavier – approximately the weight of two £1 coins

ALL PHOTOS WILLIAM CASTLE

The easiest measurement to make is the open string length, taken between the nut and the bridge. The other two criteria, relating to the left arm extension and the bow arm’s forward extension can also be made with a tape measure, but they can also be worked out using measurements that a maker, repairer or dealer may have already provided. The left arm extension is worked out by adding the back length and the neck length. The back length is measured from the centre line of the back near the endpin, over the arch to the side of the button, while the neck is measured along the edge of the neck from where the nut touches the fingerboard to the edge of the belly.

The distance between the bridge and the bottom of the instrument can be measured or calculated by taking the back length and subtracting the stop length. This is the distance from the centre line of the bridge, or the inside nicks of the f-holes, to the edge of the belly where it meets the neck.

You might reasonably ask why these measurements are necessary: isn’t it easier just to pick up an instrument to see how it feels? Of course, you can do exactly that if the instruments you want to compare are in the same place, and if you are used to playing different instruments and know what you are looking for. But even then, being able to quantify the variables and knowing how they affect your ability to play is going to increase your understanding and make the process easier.

The essential thing to realise is that because the proportions of violas vary, a ‘bigger’ viola does not necessarily have a longer string length or neck length, and the bridge may not be further away from your body. Despite these complications, which make it more difficult to compare instruments, these variations have major advantages when it comes to finding a viola with the right combination of characteristics for an individual musician.

For someone with relatively short fingers but longer arms, for example, a viola with a short string length will be a high priority, whereas someone with shorter arms will want to minimise the left arm extension.

The same violas played in a higher position. The larger viola (left) requires a greater stretch between thumb and first finger, and the elbow needs to move further round to reach around the body of the instrument

A ‘BIGGER’ VIOLA DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE A LONGER STRING LENGTH OR NECK LENGTH

EXAMPLES

To see how these factors work together, it is helpful to compare two different models, both of average size, with a back length of 412mm.

The one on the right is an Andrea Guarneri model with typical Cremonese proportions, the bridge position being particularly relevant. The stop length is 222mm. To decide on the neck length, some instrument makers use a ratio of 2:3 between the neck and body stop, the same ratio as the violin, in which case the neck length would be 148mm. However, viola players are sufficiently versatile not to require this absolute ratio on every instrument, so other instrument makers vary this proportion: up to a 5:8 ratio, which makes the neck 140mm long.

The advantage of this shorter neck is that the left arm extension is reduced by 8mm, and the string length is also reduced by the same amount, so the left-hand stretches are also smaller. The potential disadvantage is that the strings are under less tension than with a longer neck, so depending on other aspects of the instrument’s construction, they could feel and sound a bit floppy.

The model on the left, a Giovanni Paolo Maggini, is conceived along different lines. The outline of this instrument has the C-bouts and f-holes higher up the body, so the bridge is further away from the musician’s body, the stop length being 210mm. Because the stop length of this model is so short, using the 2:3 ratio to work out the neck length would be the sensible choice, giving a neck length of 140mm, the same as the Andrea Guarneri neck.

With the neck length and body length being the same on both models, the left arm extension is also the same, but the string length of the Maggini is very short for this size of viola, being 12mm shorter than the Andrea Guarneri. This means that the intervals for the left hand are significantly smaller on the Maggini. This would be a good thing if you have small hands, but the decreased tension in the strings due to the shorter string length risks floppiness, particularly on the C string, although other details of this model do mitigate against this tendency. For someone with small hands or short fingers this model may be a better choice than the Guarneri, but because of the higher bridge position, the bow arm needs to be 17mm further forward, so your arms need to be quite long.

For many violists, however, any 412mm instrument is too big. To see how a smaller viola relates to the previous models, let’s examine a 384mm viola, which is getting towards the lower limit for size. The Anselmo Bellosio model on the next page has a stop length of 212mm, 2mm longer than the Maggini, despite being 25mm shorter in the back. Depending on the ratio used, the neck could be anywhere between 132.5mm and 141mm. The danger with using the shortest neck length is the lack of tension in the strings, so I tend to use a 138mm neck length to avoid this problem. This gives an open string length of 354mm, which is only 3mm less than the Maggini, but because of the Bellosio’s proportions, the distance between the bridge and your body is only 176mm, 26mm less than the Maggini. This means your bow hand is a whole inch nearer to your body.

A composite picture showing a Maggini model viola on the left and an Andrea Guarneri on the right. Notice the difference in bridge positions and string lengths

PHOTOS WILLIAM CASTLE

THE DA NGER WITH USING THE SHORTEST NECK LENGTH IS THE LACK OF TENSION IN THE STRINGS

The back length of this Anselmo Bellosio viola is only 384mm

ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF EXTRA THICKNESS CAN MAKE AN AWFUL LOT OF DIFFERENCE TO HOW THE NECK FEELS

This may seem a bit complicated if all you want to do is find a viola that works. For any violist thinking about getting a new instrument, the first step is to isolate the factors that are important to you.As far as size is concerned, measuring your own viola and deciding what aspects of its size work or don’t work is a good start.Comparing those measurements with the Andrea Guarneri model will tell you if your viola is about average, or a little big or small in those respects which you find comfortable or uncomfortable.

The three measurements – back length, left arm extension and bridge position – are the most important factors regarding size, but there are other considerations too.

WEIGHT

The weight of an instrument is immediately apparent when you pick it up. The greatest part of the weight is the back, because this is the thickest part of the instrument’s body, and compared with the belly, the wood of the back is more dense. Its weight depends on its size, the density of the wood and its thickness, which in turn is determined by the qualities of the wood and the shape of the archings. So it is quite possible to have good instruments of the same model which are quite different in weight, so unfortunately you can’t decide on a viola by putting it on a set of scales! However, the musician has a better test readily available: the ears, because everything else being equal, an instrument that is too heavy in the body is likely to be restricted in its sound.

The second aspect of weight that affects the comfort of an instrument is its balance. If we allow that the body is well constructed for sound, with whatever weight that entails, there is still the neck and scroll, which, because they are a long way from the body, have a disproportionate effect on how easy it is to hold up the instrument. Many historical violas have quite large scrolls, some with shoulders to the pegbox like a cello scroll, but any extra size is all extra weight. Practically speaking, a viola pegbox needs to be no bigger than one for a violin, because it only needs to be large enough to hold four pegs and the ends of the strings, and although a big scroll may have some chunky aesthetic appeal, a scroll only 10 or 15 per cent bigger than a violin does not look out of place and keeps the weight to the minimum.

SHAPE

Besides varying in length, violas also differ in shape. The aspects that particularly affect player comfort are the shape of the neck, where only a small amount of extra thickness can make an awful lot of difference to how it feels, and the shape of the upper bouts. This is the part of the body around which your hand and arm need to move to reach higher positions. Not too much attention needs to be paid to the absolute width; more noticeable is how quickly the ribs drop away from the neck, but this must also be considered in relation to the fingerboard. Especially on old instruments where the fingerboard has been reworked many times, or where the neck has been planed down when fitting a new fingerboard, the surface of the fingerboard may be much nearer to the belly than is ideal, so the left hand not only has to reach around the top bout, but must also curl down more for the fingers to push the strings against the fingerboard. A long body length is also an important factor when playing in high positions, because on a larger instrument, not only must the arm reach further to get round the upper bout, but the wrist and hand must also reach further back again, creating more tension as you go for the top notes.

SOUND

Unfortunately, there is still a perception among some violists that you should play the biggest viola you can, never mind how long it takes you to become injured by doing so! This is based on the presumption that a bigger instrument must sound better, but this is not necessarily the case. However, it is easier to make a good-sounding instrument if it is over 406mm, which is one reason why there are so few good old violas under this size, and not many new ones either. Another important factor is the choice of strings, the ones used in the past not working nearly as well for short string lengths as modern strings, so many older violas now sound better than they once did. In terms of the sound produced, it would be a mistake to get stuck on the issue of size, because there is as much variation between instruments of the same size as there is between instruments of different sizes. Each instrument should therefore be treated as an individual, and depending on your own peculiarities of size and proportion, as well as your tonal preferences, there is probably a viola out there to suit everyone.

PAUL BRICKELL/SOTHEBY’S