first steps

The project is not yet at 'full speed' as you can see.

Last friday I visited Rene Slotboom in Zeist to discuss the vihuela de arco.

(Rene and Sebastián Núñez presented their de arco and de mano twins at the Utrecht festival)

It is not my plan to make an exact copy of the vihuela de arco that Rene presented. It seems more interesting to add some variation to the available instruments. I tend to choose a somewhat larger body but keeping the neck long enough to allow for 10 frets. 

First drawings will be presented shortly....

In the meantime I have made a copy of the Linarol viol scaled to the desired size. (enlargement 1,33 times to reach a string length of approx. 72 cm)

Surprisingly the resulting instrument is smaller than my 'conventional' 69 cm bass-viol. The early Linarol will have the bridged placed a lot lower (between the lower ends of the f-holes)

I want to try to build the viol without an internal mould on a 'false bottom' (see details on the website of Frederico Lowenberger.

Unlike the tipical venetian scroll I want to put a dragon on the pegbox. I asked Wanda - my daughter - to make a couple of sketches to give an impression of the result.

(Drawings will follow...)