Small Violin to Viola conversions

Conversion of small violins to violas by using the "Hole in the heart" technique.

This technique was developed by Heikki Puukko and Pentii Nevalainen in Finland and it has revolutionised the teaching of the viola to young children. Attempts at producing small violas, by simply restringing violins are unsatisfactory, as children and teachers are often put off by the floppy, unfocused sound which was often accompanied by the clattering of strings against the fingerboard when attempting to play above pianissimo. Also, fractional sized instruments just don't have enough air volume to resonate under lower tension strings without sounding weak and "tinny"

Essentially, the function of the soundboard, between the action of the treble bridge foot and the soundpost is bypassed, this has the effect of reducing the amplitude of higher frequency resonances, and gives the lower registers greater sonority, a quality normally impossible with the much smaller student violas.
This effect is clearly seen in the 2 frequency response charts, this enables the lower frequencies developed from the C and G strings to have greater dominance over the spectrum.
As this is an irreversible procedure, it would normally only be performed on student quality, fractional sized instruments.

After conversion, the instrument is strung with good quality, appropriately sized viola strings, those with a synthetic gut core respond the best.

I can perform this operation either on customers' own supplied instruments, or I can provide suitable student quality instruments as a package.
Please enquire for more details, prices etc.