This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Carleen Hutchins was an experimental violin maker, Creator and founder of the Hutchins Consort and cofounder of the Catgut Acoustical Society.
Experiments on Violas
Hutchins developed a acoustically balanced viola which she would later call the alto violin. Due to the traditional over the shoulder playing method of the viola there are major acoustic flaws with the instruments as the string length is shorter then ideal and the internal volume of the instrument is also smaller then ideal. Hutchins corrected both of these issues by developing a viola that is played upright and held between the legs much like the cello. Hutchins also tested many designs for an over the shoulder model of the instrument that were capable of greater acoustic balance, but none of the instrument shapes were ergonomic enough to act as good concert level instruments. The vertical viola developed by Hutchins is over 50centemeters long, making for a much taller instruments then is standard. 1)
Violin Octet
1965 debued the octet
New methods for acoustic tuning
Hutchins developed new methods for tuning the top and bottom
Catgut Acoustical Society
Notes
All authentic Hutchins instruments are labelled with a SUS numbers inside of the sound body of the instrument. The SUS number means pig in Latin.
