Another instrument upkeep job that I've been putting off for quite some time... this time, it is for the Viola d'amore. This is a lovely instrument that was made for me about 5 years ago... based upon an original instrument that is housed in a museum in Belgium, it has been a real pleasure to play on the rare occasion that a concert requires one of these very special instruments!

I have been playing it a bit more than usual this year, as I have quite a bit of free time to spend on honing my skills on this instrument. In normal times, I only pull it out when I have a coming concert that needs to be prepared for... so I get up to speed on it, and then let it lapse for a while. I've started to explore additional repertoire from history for the instrument... some good, some decidedly less good!

So, a couple of years ago, the sympathetic strings that thread through the bridge and continue under the fingerboard started to buzz and rattle. As it is a newly made instrument, it takes a few years (or decades) for the wood and construction to settle with the tension applied by the strings. It is quite astounding the amount of pressure and torque that these things are put under!

Anyway, over the first few years, the strings were pulling away at the fingerboard and neck, which meant that over time, the angle of the neck changed just enough to start touching against the sympathetic strings on the underside. So, the solution would be to sit the sympathetic strings lower down, which meant that new holes would need to be drilled for them under the old holes.

At the time, I needed to do a quick turn around... so, I took the instrument down to the luthier, and he quickly drilled a new set of holes for the thin strings. It was a fast hour turn around so that I could use the instrument later that week. However, it was a bit of a hack solution which left the bridge looking a bit mangled!

I promised that I would come back when I had time (he lives about 2.5 hours away on the train... about 1 hour by car). As usual, life got in the way... and I put it off.

However, I have a good deal of free time (if I'm not playing at being a father!) these days, and I also don't desperately need the instrument so it can spend some time at the luthier settling into a new bridge. Plus, the Dutch government has been giving some support for self-employed workers who have been thrown for a spin by the Coronavirus measures... so, there is some money available to spend on work-related expenses.

Now, it would be much easier to just drive there... but I do enjoy sitting on the train. The connection that I chose is just a single change... it takes about 20 minutes longer, but I don't have to run around on the station platforms and I can just sit and relax.

... or I can keep working on the mixing and editing of the voices from the choir that I'm working on. The conductor wants it for tomorrow or the weekend... I'm almost there, as long as there isn't too many micro edits that need to be done! Some of the singers have been really easy... others have needed quite a bit of extra love and special help to sound better (or at least, not at odds with their colleagues!).

So, a day well spent... I hope to be able to pick up my instrument next week, or before Christmas! I really hate it when they spend the night elsewhere...

Originally published on my HIVE/STEEM blog!