JAVS Spring 2025

Performer Instrument

Body Length approx..

String Length

Performer Instrument

Body Length approx..

String Length

Nigel Kennedy Anselmo. Bellosio 1792 Yuri Bashmet Carlo Testore 1790 Tabea Zimmermann Etienne Vatelov 1983 Paul Silverthorne Archinto Stradivari 1696 Nobuko Imai Andrea Guarneri 1690 Pinchas Zukerman Andrea Guarneri 1670

15-inch 360 mm Kim Kaskashian

16 4/8inch 380mm

Brothers Amati 1617

16 1/8 inch

359mm Gérard Causé

17-inch

369mm

Gasparo da Salò 1560

16 3/8 inch 16 3/8 inch

370mm Rivka Golani

17-inch

387mm

Otto Erdesz 1977

371mm Michael Tree

17 1/8 inch 378mm

Dominicus Busan 1750

16 3/8 inch

375mm Roger Chase Domenico

17 ¼ inch 381mm

Montagnana c.1720

16 3/8 inch

375mm Michel Michelakakos Gasparo da Salò 1560

17 ½

375mm

Master luthier Renè Morel (1932-2011), after many years of restoring, making, and collaborating with players, concluded that the string length is the most important measurement on the viola. He argues that a string length of around 375 mm (14 ¾ inches) is ideal for easy playing and contributes to the overall quality of sound of the viola. He had concluded that a “shorter” string length is beneficial for both playability and sound production. 6 especially when playing in the first position, where the intervals are farther apart. It can also affect playing double-stops, shifting, playing in higher positions, and even the vibrato. Due to the nature of the violin and viola playing positions, intervals such as seconds, thirds, and fourths can be considered unnatural for the left hand, as the higher fingers have to cross the lower ones on the fingerboard (e.g., the fourth and third fingers on thirds). Other intervals such as fifths, sixths, sevenths, and octaves, require a more natural position of the fingers over the fingerboard once the higher fingers do not cross the Long string length requires the player to over-stretch the left-hand fingers to maintain the correct hand frame,

lower ones. Dounis, in his book The Violin Player’s Daily Dozen: Twelve Fundamental Exercises for the Left Hand and the Bow, Op.20 , describes these two hand frames as the “easy setting” (for sixths and octaves), and the “difficult setting” (for playing thirds, fourths, and descending scale passages). 7 There are several reasons behind left hand difficulties in viola playing. One is that the fourth finger has to potentially overstretch, especially when playing octaves with a small hand. The strings height, which is the space between the string and the fingerboard, does not help since this distance is greater on the viola than on the violin for example. Finally, the thicker neck requires more flexibility of the left fingers. All these reasons combined inform us of why violists should be conscious of the impact of the string length on playability since the fingers are constantly moving vertically and horizontally. 8 Check if you can comfortably play octaves and seconds in first position on your viola (using first and fourth fingers) as this will require the ultimate lefthand stretch.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring 2025