In the past five months that this site has been up, it seems like we have had five years of development in these new instruments. Right now I have a few new 5-strings sitting around my house, and it’s really exciting to be trying them out. I’m mostly using my trusty Bob Kogut 5, but here also are new instruments by Georgia’s Barry Dudley, who posts to this site often (at center in picture), and by a fellow Oregonian named Jonathan Franke (on left in picture)
Barry’s 5 string is a big beefy brash handful, with a great neck and a beautiful finish. This particular instrument uses Bubinga, a type of rosewood, for the back & sides. The soundholes are also radical, and beautiful. Barry has been really productive on these instruments and has dedicated himself to moving the 5-string forward. he has many satisfied customers including the great Tania Elizabeth, from The Duhks. his website is www.dudleyviolins.com.

Here’s a picture of that amazing scroll and neck.

The other is an unexpected violin from a neighbor up here in Monroe, Oregon. Jonathan Franke has been making fine violins for years and just recently tried his hand at a 5-string. One thing that stands out about this instrument is the size of the neck: it’s full width between the strings, and the fingerboard looks really beefy, but turns out to be very comfortable. Impeccable workmanship and and an incredible chocolatey yet super-even powerful tone make this instrument really special.The top wood on this instrument is very special, cut by the maker up in the Cascades mountains here… very similar to some superfine papery old European spruce I’ve seen on other great instruments. It’s built on a Strad pattern, not too big but the sound is HUGE… Might have to hang on to this one for a while… Contact him at http://www.proviolins.comAnd I’m still hanging with my trusty Bob Kogut 5 string–it just plain sounds great, super-even and velvety, records like a dream. http://webpages.charter.net/koguts

here is a comparison of the corners of each of the 3 instruments: 3 very different approaches. Bob K is on the left, Barry D is the center, Jon F is on the right. All have their advantage, I never whack the Kogut corners! They are very efficient. Notice the far right corner; that little bee-sting of the purfling curves right down toward the bottom side of the corner… exquisite.

We’ll have a discussion list, a postable news page, a listing of makers, and various contributions and articles from 5-string players.

We hope this site will serve a useful purpose for you.

best,

Darol