The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #115726 Message #2487654
Posted By: TheSnail
07-Nov-08 - 11:43 AM
Thread Name: octave strings--fiddle
Subject: RE: octave strings--fiddle
I've been experimenting for a while with a viola tuned up a tone to give DAEB so strings 2,3 & 4 are an octave below a fiddles 1, 2 & 3. This means I can play a lot of the fiddle repertoire just by moving down a string. Trouble is, it does my shoulder in. Not until I read this thread did it occur to me that with viola strings on a fiddle the shortening is pretty close to what you need to raise them a tone. I ordered some cheap viola strings and dug out a rather nasty junk shop fiddle that I never play and gave it a try. I've had some problems with slipping pegs which may be down to the cheap old fiddle but Stewart's suggestion of swapping the G and D (or in my case (D and A) strings between tuning pegs has helped.
The sound isn't great but it seems to work. I wonder what to call it, a violet?