Viola for Left Handers?

I might be accquiring a viola soon (a cheap student one) just to fiddle around with. (no aspirations of orchestra level playing ^^; ) However, I am left- handed and despite being able to do a lot of things right handed - instruments such as the viola I would have to play left-handed. Is it possible to still play on a right handed viola? Any other outside information would be awesome! Thanks!

Viola for Left Handers?
Not sure you would really want to.





Do you play other instruments? OK, if you already do guitar or banjo or string bass left-handed, then you should do viola the same way.





Otherwise, strongly consider playing it the traditional way.





Or, a third alternative. I play a viola-type instrument (a violone, actually); it's like an octave cello--I play it upright, resting on my lap, just like a little cello can be played. As I recall, the bassist from the group Oregon used to play a violin that way, too. Historically, that would be called "a gamba" (on the leg" rather than "a braccia" (on the arm) if you wanna get formal.





If you are playing only for your own pleasure and you don't mind being idiosyncratic, then you could get a standard viola (the biggest size you can find) and play it left-handed, a gamba, without having to re-string or fool around with a chin rest--in fact, you could remove the chin rest and get a little more tone. You'd learn the fingerings backwards, of course, but there should be no compromise in technique or sound.





If you choose to play it that way, I think the proper musicological term would be "a Hendrix" :-)
Reply:Instruments such as the viola are not like a baseball glove: there are no right-handed or left-handed violas. It's just a viola. It is played the same no matter what the player's preference.
Reply:You will have to play it the right handed way like everybody else. You cannot just re-string it like others have said.





The bass bar on the inside will be on the wrong side so the viola would have to be opened up to reverse this. You can't just reverse the bridge because the fingerboard is not symmetrical and it would be out of alignment with the bridge.The bridge too has a back and a front so you cannot just flip that around either.


You would need a luthier to cut a new bridge and a new fingerboard.


The sound post would have to be moved to the other side.





All this would cost a lot of money. Plus you would be out of synch with the rest of the viola section ; bowing the wrong way.





Just learn to play it like everybody else. You will soon get used to it.
Reply:its possible but you will have to make some changes.


- get a center chinrest or switch it to the right


- get a diferent bridge. *do not just turn the bridge around or it will warp*


- string it differently


-get a custom nut for your viola (the nut is where the 4 grooves are at the top of the fingerboard to hold strings in place)


- have the sound post and bass bar put on the other side (probably very expensive)





**you are probably better off learning the traditional way
Reply:You should be able to restring it and play left handed. You would need to flip the chin rest and the bridge and possibly any fine tuners on it in order for this to work. Keep in mind though that if you ever want to play in a group setting it would probably not work, due to close prosimity to each other.
Reply:There are plenty of left handed instrumentalists - it doesn't really affect your playing. Trust me - I know. I am a left handed violinist who's dabbled in viola - it just means that your left hand tends to be stronger than your right, and can sometimes indicate that your technique is stronger in one hand.

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