The Stentor Messina Viola is the first in Stentor’s range of high-grade orchestral violas. These are superb individually handcrafted instruments, carved from selected and figured tonewoods. The Stentor Messina viola is made in a specialist hand workshop within the Stentor factory, where the most skilled individual workers produce under the close supervision of a master maker, in a traditional luthier’s environment that would be familiar to makers throughout the centuries. The result is a fine instrument with a superior finish and sound. The viola is carved from solid tonewoods and finished with a hand-applied traditional shellac varnish to complement the individual look of each instrument. All instruments are individually workshop fitted. Stentor Messina Viola specifications: Selected spruce front Figured maple back, ribs and neck Inlaid purfling Traditional shellac varnish Ebony fingerboard and pegs Pirastro strings Available in 15.5″ and 16″ Stentor Messina Viola set-up by Caswells Strings | Instruments not properly set up can have a detrimental effect on the players progress, even leading to the player being put off for life. We operate a strict policy of setting up every instrument, regardless of level, to exact standards and specifications. A set-up in our workshop includes shaping and cutting the bridge, lubricating the pegs, rosining the bow and adjusting the soundpost. Instruments are shipped with the bridges up.