There are no surviving treble viols from the first the first half of the 16th century. Ganassi’s extensive descriptions of viol sizes detail a d-treble an octave above the bass. (This is my model A.)

I am happy to have worked with David Hatcher, director of the Linarol Consort, to design a c-treble which will also manage d’’ at a440.

Scaled up from the Francesco original, I make these in three sizes.

Model A
string length around 720 mm. Standard d bass tuning at a 440.

Model B
String length around 670mm. Tuning and stringing as above.

Over the years I have produced successful variations of these two designs to suit the specific requirements of players, (A shallower body; a longer neck; a different pitch standard.) whilst maintaining the working parameters of the original design.

Model C
This is a hybrid of the above designs, the smaller, and now shallower, body of Model B, but with a longer neck, allowing for Ganassi’s 8 frets.

These bows were originally designed for use on the different sizes of my Linarol viols. However over the years, players have purchased them for a wide variety of 16th and 17th century instruments, from medieval fiddles to 7 string viols. The design is based on 16th Century iconography. I make them from a variety of woods, black or white best quality bow-hair and varying lengths and weights.

The clip-in frog is designed to be slid in to position for a playing session and un-clipped when not in use to relax the tension on the hair and stick.

Sliding (friction) frogs sit astride the stick, and are slid towards the heel to tension to the hair. They have a dusting of powdered rosin to hold them in place whilst allowing them to be slid back or forward to increase or relax the hair tension.

A selection of bows available from stock is illustrated below. I have others in the workshop. Please contact me for more details. Bows can be sent out on approval. Carriage to a UK address £15; overseas £20-£30.