Introduction to the Noonsky viola d'amore

[@rossclay3317]

Absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing this! What a beautiful and brilliant instrument! Oh play on!!!!!!

[@WEdHarris]

Absolutely brilliant build of this beautiful instrument! Much respect! Thank you so much for sharing this very educational video!

[@RODNEYBURR-i9s]

Extrordinary! It has the remarkable voice and resonance of a fine classical guitar. I love the cathedral-esque ring to the notes!

[@MrGREYMATTERS]

A BRILLIANT build!!! 😊

[@wilhelmmatthies5921]

good to see experimentation with this great instrument!

[@lauprellim]

What a fantastic video. Congratulations Tom!!

[@charangosurf]

Wonderful and very impressive! What a combination of luthier & musical skills!

[@yaelalcina]

Looks beautiful and sounds great already! Congratulations Tom.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

I read that Aquila makes F-Red Viola D'amore Strings which are Red Synthetic Strings that sound essentially like gut Strings but last longer.

[@tantricsarcasm9133]

Thanks for the video, Tom! I'm looking forward to future videos about your new instrument, and how you like the tuning for the sympathetic strings that you've chosen.

[@deejayvaidya]

I have also tuned my sympathetic strings to a scale. I used different gauges of steel strings so that the tension on all sympathetic strings is approximately the same.

[@MrArchibald7]

Beautifull! 😊

[@johnmurdoch8534]

Incredible.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

It has quite a big musical note range

[@Mns_87]

Has Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1 ever been recorded on the viola d’amore?

[@thisisvioladamore]

I have not heard of such a recording, and I think it would be difficult to adapt the solo violin part for the viola d'amore. However, I wish the viola d'amore had some minimalist repertoire. Something like The Nature of Twilight?

[@aaronflinner6431]

That is wonderful! How much would you charge to build one for someone? Wonderful work sir.

[@YuthokNyingthik]

Beautiful instrument! Wondering which gauge and composition of sympathetic strings you used and how you came to that decision.

[@thisisvioladamore]

I'll respond to your questions in a future video, but in the meantime, here is my source for sympathetic strings: www.jonathanhill-luthier.com/sympathetic-strings

[@deejayvaidya]

I use steel strings from D'Addario. The equation is such that if you keep the same tension, double-the-thickness =one octave lower. I got a range of string thicknesses for each of the strings, so that I get all diatonic intervals needed for a piece.

[@samlamingluthier]

The lower break shouldn't be any more difficult to make than the upper break. I have the same on my Violett and at least 2 of the Historic Violetts I've measured have the same double break, with no sign of damage/problems from such, although they tend to terminate sooner than yours. Regarding sympathetic resonance, in my opinion diatonic sympathetic tunings give much more consistent resonance of slightly less volume perhaps, whilst chordal tuning gives slightly louder resonance, but less frequently (when you're playing notes between the chord)... The volume difference is small, but how almost every note 'activates' a sympathetic in diatonic tunings make me think it's a far superior way of tuning them. My 2 cents! Congrats and all the best.

[@thisisvioladamore]

Thank you for your detailed and informed comment. I appreciate that. I'll return to your points about the breaks and amount of resonance in my next video because it is clear I am not quite communicating yet. But in the meantime, for those interested, here is Mr. Laming talking about his own instruments: www.qest.org.uk/alumni/sam-laming/

[@samlamingluthier]

​@@thisisvioladamore that's very kind of you to share, although I'm just interesting in the conversation of sympathetic string instruments... and you was the first Viola D'amore video I ever saw that started a lot of my passion for it, so thanks ; )

[@liamnevilleviolist1809]

A beautiful sound and it looks great!!! I'm just wondering: the-second-to-last lowest string, that's an Evah Pirazzi yes? Is it *the* C string for a standard viola? Another question, what is the lowest string you're using then? In fact: I'd be extremely grateful if you could tell me about all of the strings you chose for the viola d'amore's setup in this video!!!

[@thisisvioladamore]

Thank you for your sharp-eyed comment. You are probably correct about the Evah Pirazzi viola c; I used whatever was on my shelf to string the vda for the first time. Now I have a new set of Pirastro gut strings for viola d'amore on, tuned from the top at A: 415: d'' a' f#' d' a d A. The gut strings are much friendlier under the fingers than the dominants, and the gamba-type tailpiece attachment, so far, provides the tuning stability I formerly resorted to Dominant strings for.

[@M65V19]

What is thickness of resonance box?

[@karenarnett5167]

in design it looks like a viola da gamba. did the viola d'amore emerge from that family of instruments rather than from the violin family?

[@thisisvioladamore]

Maybe a treble gamba with very very low ribs? Actually, a vda is like a vdg only in some superficial ways. In future videos, I'll try to explain the viola d'amore's connections to the Gamba family and the Violin family, but for the moment I'll just say both viol-family instruments and violin-type instruments are basically bowed guitars. (In Argentina, they still call guitars violas.) Here is another video of mine with more on the development of the violin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foK9g3aErKqIe7s