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RE: E string for 5-string viola?

bachlava_9 — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:52:05 GMT

I'm having the same problem... I took my viola to a lady who fixes the school instruments in my town and she cut a guitar high E-string in half and put that on my viola. It took a looong time for that to stretch out and sound decent and I'm only using it temporarily until I can find a string that's actually made for a viola, but it works. It's taking a toll on my bridge, though. Take it to a nearby, knowledgeable luthier and see what they can do for you.

Also, as I found with my "experimental" viola, it wasn't quite set up properly, so you might want to take it to a luthier anyway and have them make sure its set up properly. You wouldn't want to find a miracle E-string and then have it break because the pegs aren't sanded properly or anything.

Have fun experimenting! :w00t:

P.S. If you find this "miracle string" please e-mail me and tell me where you found it.

E string for 5-string viola?

Altofiddler — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:01:09 GMT

I just obtained a 16" five-string viola, and I have found that regular violin E strings are too short. Does anyone have a suggestion for what string to use? I suppose that I could have gotten a 5-string violin instead, but I just love the sound of the deep C string played on the larger body of the viola. But, Oops, no one seems to make long E strings.

Can I use a viola A string tuned up a 5th? Would that put too much tension on the string or on the neck? Maybe a very very stretchy violin E string? Are there E strings made for viola d'amores? I would have to cut such a string down to size, I suppose. How is that achieved without unwinding the wrapping by mistake? Can I make my own string?

I think that my 5-string viola was made by young creative Chinese luthier students who may not have considered the E string problem.