Arwed Harms 16.5" viola, 2019, Fizziana, ITALY

Arwed Harms has been making violins, violas and cellos for twenty years, initially in Cremona and for six years now in Fivizzano, Tuscany.

In the roughly one hundred instruments that he has build, there is a wide range of models and concepts. There are for example sixteen different viola models and five different Guarneri del Gesu' violin patterns.

Many well known musicians like Hatto Beyerle (founding member of the Alban Berg quartet), Johannes Luethy (solo violist of the SWR Symphonieorchester Baden Baden and professor in Karlsruhe), Grzegorz Kotow (violinist of the Szymanowski quartet ), Patrick Jüdt ( viola professor in Bern, Switzerland) and Fabio Marano (violist of the Pellegrini quartet) are constantly playing and teaching on his instruments.
He makes workbench copies, which allow him to deal very precisely with the originals.

Otherwise the instruments are free interpretations of the old masters instruments.
In this way the great variety of the classic period of violinmaking has become part of his repertoire.

The instruments are varnished with a self-produced amber linseed oil finish.

The well balanced proportions of the ingredients, coloured with natural dyes, gives to every instrument a very personal character. The varnish protects the instrument without hindering it in its vibrations.

Despite increasing demand, his aim is to have always some instruments in the workshop, especially a range of different sizes of viola.