Here at Peter Hembrough Bows no two days are the same. Each day brings a different challenge. This week I was asked to find a quality Viola for an outstanding young soloist, budget £100,000. On the face of it this sounds straightforward, with a fine budget you would think the world is your oyster. This however, is proving not to be the case!
Once given this customers wishes I immediately contacted my friends in U.K. France, Italy, Switzerland and the USA. It immediately became clear that fine quality Violas are not as easy as you would imagine.
You can certainly find fine instruments, made by the best makers, but there is often an Achilles heal and it pays to do your due diligence.
Perhaps this is why you should enlist the help of a dealer, to look into the fine detail. For instance we all got excited when a fine French Viola turned up, only to find the belly had been thinned about a century ago, thus ruining the tone and carrying power. So much for ‘improving’ an instrument by thinning the plates! It would have been easy for the musician to think if they play the viola a great deal it shall ‘wake up’ sound wise, but sadly this instrument had been damaged structurally. This situation is ongoing and I hope to give a happy end to this story in June.
Talking of Violas, it reminds me of a true but funny story........
Several years ago a man walked into a string dealers shop with a viola case, he put the case on the counter and told the shop owner he had a viola he wished to sell. Upon opening the case the shop owner was astonished to be confronted by the most beautiful Brescian 17th century viola he had ever seen! He did a quick mental sum and felt he could put together £9,000 in cash that day. He said ‘I think I can give you nine’ at this point the owner of the Viola piped up ‘hundred! I was hoping for a thousand!’ The dealer said ‘ok’ This is a true story, and it was indeed, one of the most beautiful violas I have ever seen!