🦋 viola d'ottone: tailpiece, tailgut, tuners, pegs
An issue in designing the brass viola, is what to use for a tailpiece. I cannot use a cello tailpiece, because the distance from the tail to the bridge is too short. My impulse is to use a viola tailpiece; however a much longer tailgut is needed than what is used for a viola (and I think longer than a cello tailgut), and I believe the thickness of it will be too great to fit in the holes drilled into a viola tailpiece. In addition, viola fine-tuners will not work because they are too small to accept cello strings.
My tentative plan is to use a viola tailpiece but drill new holes in it, and run a Bois d'Harmonie bass tailcord through the end of the tailpiece and around the middle; and to forego fine-tuners on the tailpiece and instead use geared pegs. I may in the end have to carve my own tailpiece but am hoping not.
Update: a genius idea from the Cello international forum on FB: In lieu a tailpiece, use two loops of kevlar thread and four brass rings -- each of the strings effectively gets its own "tailpiece".
posted afternoon of Wednesday, January 29th, 2020 ➳ More posts about viola d'ottone ➳ More posts about Projects
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