Viola quesion!?

I have an old viola i've had since the fourth grade. I want to strip the enamle and stain the wood, but i don't know if that will affect the quality of the sound it makes. How do i go about stripping it, and do i need to use special stain?

Viola quesion!?
Wow, that last statement was...interesting to say the least! I would take it to your local, trustworthy music store to have it evaluated. Never do that yourself. You could end up ruining your viola, and considering the fact that my mid-grade 14inch (my section of 3 calls it the midget viola, even though I am kinda tall and lanky, I have the midget viola, go figure) cost about 700$ with 30% discount and 250 dollars credit from the one I rented, you might be in a jam.





Why do you want to though? Just to make it look better? Because you should never sacrifice looks for the tone of your instrument. Again, get it done proffesionally if the music store says to( we have music and arts where I live, I know other places have differet stores.) So um, good luck! I am so happy that there are more viola players out there!