RAB Award 2018: funding for wood, strings and varnish materials
“I am very grateful to have been awarded viola wood, strings and varnish materials. Everything is well in use.
For my viola I got a very nice spruce front from Andreas Pahler, cut in 1994, 1 ½ hours by car from the place where I grew up. For the back I got a gorgeous one-piece slab-cut birch piece from David Dyke which he cut 15 years ago. The work is still in progress and I am so curious how it is going to look and sound!
With the varnish materials I’ve been cooking different recipes and tried different ways to use Venetian turpentine. The possibility to do so made me gain a lot of experience. I found a way of cooking a nice varnish, and I am very happy with how it turned out on the instrument.
The money for strings was a welcome contribution to a better sound for my instrument. I had a mix of old strings to start with but the award made appropriate strings possible.”
