G'day Fidla,

I have a friend who plays a 5-string fiddle for Australian "Bush" music. The extra string adds the viola's 'C' below the standard fiddle GDAE. It just means he can play "fiddle style" (using the open strings for that different tonality on the key note) in 'C' - quite often encountered when playing with fiddles and diatonic accordians.

Although cellos go down to the 'C' - they are an octave lower. However, viola music, added to standard violin music, would cover your (presumably standard "CGDAE") 5-stringer quite well.

Regards,

Bob Bolton