This is an old article; however, much of it still rings true today.
One of the first things Don Rickert Musical Instruments (see Don Rickert Musician Shop) set out to do is to design and build the best acoustic baritone violin in the world. There are several instruments referred to as ‘baritones’. You can find out about this topic by reading the extended post, especially information about the New Violin Family, also known as the Violin Octet. When we say baritone violin or baritone fiddle, we are talking about an instrument with the exact nut to bridge length (just under 13″) as a standard violin or fiddle, but tuned an octave lower.
We have extensively tested several models with professional and amateur old time, bluegrass and Scottish fiddlers, expert level viola players, 20 or so violinists in the Atlanta Youth Symphony Orchestra and a former violinist in the Russian Chamber Orchestra.
One model is based on an enlarged Chanot-type (i.e. cornerless or ‘guitar-shaped) violin, another on a modified 14″ (i.e. student) viola and yet another on the concave back ‘Cradle of Harmony’, patented by the artist William Sidney Mount in 1852! We have judged further work on the small viola to be a waste of time and are evaluating where to go with the Chanot-type instrument (which actually sounds pretty good).
Photos of the Chanot-type baritone being played: One of the players is Natalie Haas, known for here ‘New Age’/Traditional fusion style on the ‘cello.
Laura Risk, one of the finest fiddlers (and teacher) on the planet.
A very fine viola player and fiddler giving the Chanot-type baritone prototype a try. Her playing was beautiful and her insights were extremely helpful.
Want to here it? Click here for an all too brief sample of Natalie Haas warming up with some nice Darol Anger riffs.
Several photos of Natalie appear below.
We are ready to go into production with the Sidney Mount inspired instrument. We made a number of modifications, including adding about a lot of airspace by extending the rib width from the standard 30 mm. to 42 mm., utilizing a bassbar based on current best practices (not a Zaret Patent Bassbar!), a viola soundpost to equalize the volume of the higher and lower strings. The top plate is made from Western Red Cedar, know by classical guitar experts for its low rich tembre. Finally, the soundholes are of the Chanot-type and smaller than standard practice in order to increase ‘turbulance’ inside the instrument. The result is an instrument with unbelievable projection and a nice deep tembre (unlike some other instruments, which are loud but ‘thin’)…this instrument sounds like a fine ‘cello!
If you have ever wondered about baritone violins (aka baritone fiddles or octave violins), hopefully this essay will tell you what you need to know to get started in your quest for knowledge.
The first thing you need to know is that “baritone violin” is the the name given to two distinctly different instruments. The first type of baritone violin is a member of the “new” violin family known as the Violin Octet. The baritone of this family of instruments is a huge instrument, with longer string length than a full-size ‘cello. This is not the instrument that we are interested in presently; however, if you wish to learn more, take a look at:
- The official New Violin Family Association website
- The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section
- The Violin Octet
The second type of baritone violin, and more interesting to me personally, is a instrument with a string length identical to a regular full size violin and played in the same manner.
If you do a Google search on “baritone violin,” you will invariably discover various “reprints” of an old article that Darol Anger published originally in Strings Magazine. He describes the process of re-stringing a standard violin with fatter strings so that it is an octave lower. Since the publication of Darol’s article, relatively affordable octave violin strings sets have become readily available from Super-Sensitive (Super-Sensitive Sensicore Octave Violin Strings) for about $50. If you want to spend about $30 more, Thomastik-Infeld (The Dr. Thomastik Dominant people) makes the Superflexible Violin Octave Set. We sell both the Super-Sensitive and the Thomastik-Infeld strings.
In theory, you can simply replace the strings on your violin with either the Super-Sensitive or the Thomastik-Infelds and you have a baritone violin. In reality, you will have to have at least some moderate luthiery done, such as widening the nut grooves. Also, unless your string height is quite high (that would rule out most fiddlers I know, including myself), you are going to need a higher bridge. No matter what, the converted instrument is going to be rather quiet, a predictable result of stringing a violin to play well within the ‘cello range.
Purpose-Built Instruments
By all accounts, Darol Anger still uses a restrung standard violin as a baritone instrument with great success. Darol pretty much invented the idea of the small baritone violin and a style of playing that can best be described as percussive/rhythmic. The fact is however, if you are going be playing your instrument with a group of other musicians, you need either a purpose-built instrument or effective amplication.
There are several makers of accoustic baritone violins, Tim Phillips. His instruments are really cool-looking, but we have heard that they require amplication in group performance situations as well. Another is the “Grizzly” by Gianna Violins. WARP11 Musical Instruments (a sister company of V-Gear) is developing an acoustic baritone based on the “Cradle of Harmony”, patented in in 1852 by the Artist/Inventor, William Sidney Mount.
The other maker of accoustic baritones seems to be former maker, as he no longer lists them on his website. David Lloyd Ravius makes variations of violas that are odd looking but supposedly sound wonderful. I would be interested in knowing why he got out of the baritone violin business. I am guessing that the laws of physics played a role.
Accoustic-Electric
Barbera Transducer Systems makes ready to play baritone violins (accoustic instruments with Barbera’s transducer bridge that is optimized for the lower octave). You can also buy a kit (4 and 5 string options) to convert your own accoustic or electric violin to a baritone violin. The kits include the bridge, strings, etc., and they are not cheap!
That’s all on this topic for now.
D Rickert Musical Instruments 
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