Thanks for the explanation. I think a similar arrangement has been used on other instruments in the past.
It is strange that I can't find any reference to such a beast on the Internet, but I did find this: [1]http://kaczmarek.org/pages/biopage_folder/bio_1.html Wiki is not much help either: [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidola __________________________________________________________________ From: Anthony Robb [mailto:anth...@robbpipes.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 11:38 AM To: bri...@aol.com; nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu; BIRCH Christopher (DGT) Subject: Fidola? Hello Christopher, A fidola is rather different to a tuned down fiddle or small viola in that it has a hole for the sound-post to pass through and be pinned directly to the trebleside foot of the bridge. This gives a bigger plate/deeper tone. They need to be treated with care as the arrangement is not robust. To call it a viola might lead to problems with the Trade Descriptions Act! Cheers Anthony --- On Mon, 8/2/10, christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu <christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu> wrote: From: christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu <christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu> Subject: [NSP] Re: NSP duet with other instruments To: bri...@aol.com, nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Monday, 8 February, 2010, 9:21 >fidola (which I >think - is a fiddle tuned like a viola, i.e. a >fifth lower). Given that the size of the viola has not been standardised (unlike that of the violin - body length tends to be around 360 mm, with extremes at 354 and 362) , why not just call it a small viola? c To get on or off this list see list information at [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://kaczmarek.org/pages/biopage_folder/bio_1.html 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidola 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html