A new 12-stringed fiddle that includes 4 playing strings and 8 metal resonant strings, a combination that gives it a sweet, mysterious, and sometimes haunting sound, contributing to its name: 'the Diablo’.
The playing strings are tuned in fifths (G D A E) and have a standard Violin string length. The eight sympathetics can be tuned to the scale of your choice. The combination of gut and metal has a magical quality but this instrument suits modern strings as well.
The design draws inspiration from early Violin family forms, the baroque Viola d’amore and Swedish ‘Låtfiol’.
The ‘double decker’ peg box, whose practical design allows for ergonomic configuration of the 8 sympathetic strings, is based on historical examples found on 18th Century swedish resonance fiddles.
Materials:
Beech neck and fingerboard, Movingui flat back with upper break, Maple ribs, Spruce front with inserted Boxwood and parchment rosette.
Ebony and Lemonwood parquetry inlay on fingerboard and tailpiece. Ebony pegs.
Silver tailpiece attachment. Iron, brass and steel sympathetc strings.
All parts made by hand in my workshop.
4/8 and 5/10 versions available.
