Most fiddle players and many violinists are curious about 5 string instruments. Is an extra string that useful? Could it possibly sound decent? Would it be too difficult to make the adjustment? What about the investment in what is perceived as a “non-legit” instrument?
But the attraction of extra range, color, and convenience of having a viola and violin combined in one’s hand is considerable, and for some, irresistible. Electric violinists in the jazz and rock fields have been using 5 (and more) strings for years, and miss the extra string when they return to their acoustic instruments. Bluegrass fiddlers have embraced 5 strings. Old-time Appalachian-style fiddlers, who often tune their instruments to a chord, are discovering the tremendous sonorities possible with the extra string.
And string teachers in every style are discovering the convenience of not having to juggle violin and viola when working with their orchestra students and other classes.
Most players are disoriented when they first pick up a 5 string violin or viola because the position of the extra string changes the bowing rules in subtle unexpected ways. The neck is usually larger and can seem clunky at first. New tuning issues crop up with the extra resonances. Should you tune the E string to the A string or the C string? Acoustic 5-string instruments often seem to be slightly muted and the tonal spectrum is often very different, though they generally sound terrific close-miked in a studio or on stage.
But how many musicians have the money to gamble on a brand-new custom instrument which may not work out for them, and would likely not be their main instrument?
The idea of a 5 string instrument is a historical leapfrog of sorts, an echo from the pre-orchestral, pre-”classical canon” days of viols and other instruments, when makers were not locked into copying old masters such as Stradivari. Those “old masters” were not even old yet, and were still experimenting themselves. Bach famously wrote one of his cello suites for a 5-string instrument (with a high E) and custom instruments with different tunings proliferated. This all changed when large orchestras for operas and mass entertainment came into being, and large numbers of instrumentalists had to blend with each other, read the same music, and share consistent, extremely sophisticated playing techniques. Strad and Guarneri violins became a design pattern on which most makers and players could happily agree, and older, non-standard instruments were cut down or otherwise modified to conform to developing de facto standards. As the bulk of the working string musicians’ population gradually moves away from western european symphonic jobs to other contemporary and traditional musics, standardization is again becoming less and less important and soloists and small group players look for instruments to fit their more diverse needs. These players, combined with a growing population of brilliant, knowledgeable and creative luthiers, has created a synergistic atmosphere for new, wonderful, and often bizarre instruments which can solve old problems (and sometimes create new problems) and spark further creativity.
In the last five years, the five-string has gone from being a rare anomaly to a viable option for many string players. Jean-Luc Ponty was the first highly visible player to use an electric 5-string regularly, but swing fiddle great Johnny Gimble and later, legendary bluegrass fiddler Bobby Hicks were the first to use acoustic 5-strings. Now prominent fiddlers such as Casey Driessen and Brittany Haas use 5-strings exclusively, and more and more players - from fiddlers to jazz and pop players, and even classical teachers - are finding 5-strings to be useful instruments. Of course this would not have been possible without the builders. As the interest and demand increases, it’s only been recently that a few pioneering luthiers have learned how to solve the various problems with constructing an instrument that sounds good with and expanded range.
I want to look at 2 sides of this phenomenon: the players’ side, the advantages and the challenges, and from the makers’ side. It’s always fascinating to explore how artists from 2 different disciplines interact to create something new. We’ll start with the musicians, who seem to have mostly driven this story. I asked a few of my violinist and viola friends about their experiences with 5-strings why they play them, and their likes and dislikes.
Most of these players, who include professional touring fiddlers such as Casey Driessen and Enion Pelta, and clinician/teachers Daryl Silberman and ASTA Maine president Lauren Rioux, gave the reason of expanded range and flexibility of accompaniment as their basic reason to play a five. Big surprise. “Having the E string allowed me to not lose my violin repertoire, and the C let me expand my doubling repertoire without carrying two instruments”. Enion said, “The role that a 5-string can play as a supportive instrument is incredible compared to that of a 4-string. It supports a low instrument like guitar during solos far better, and provides better “glue” when a higher pitched instrument is soloing.” Casey liked having a distinctive instrumental voice, as the C string colors the sound of the entire instrument, and he loves being able to play a low D note at the end of fiddle tunes in D. “I was also learning Charlie Parker solos when I got my five, and just being able to go to those F and E♭ notes that the alto sax plays all the time was wonderful.” Bobby Hicks said he had a long-term contract with country music star Judy Lynn in Las Vegas in the sixties, and they had to cut the fiddle section from 3 to 2, and he had to learn to play 2 harmony parts below the melody. Everyone agreed that the lower range made accompaniment sound better and more effective.
The disadvantages cited included closer string spacing along with wider neck issues, and the time it takes to relearn the right arm positions. Lauren: “You just can’t pull or yank on the G string like you can on a traditional violin without hitting the C string. Having a middle string at the top of the bridge arc changes your muscle memory”. Daryl S: “The disadvantage of not being able to always play certain double stops because the strings are too close together is offset by the advantage of easily playing 3 or 4 strings at a time because of a shallower bridge arc”. Enion: “In the first week or so of playing it, when improvising I occasionally found myself a fifth away from where I meant to be”.
I also asked about players’ first experiences with fives and got some interesting stories. When Bobby Hicks decided he had to have one, he “sat down right there in the dressing room of the Golden Nugget in Vegas and drilled a hole in the pegbox and tailpiece of the fiddle I was using, and stuck a peg in there. That must have been about 1963.” Daryl was offered an endorsement deal: “All the guitar players got guitars and the band got PA gear. The violin part of the company, Knilling, offered me either an electric light up 4 stringed electric violin or an acoustic electric 5 string. I took the 5 string.” Casey was approached at a bluegrass festival by the well-known maker John Silakowski, and offered a new 5-string to try indefinitely. Lauren tried an electric 5-string violin at an educational conference and didn’t enjoy it, “But that same conference is where I first heard Brittany Haas play and I was completely dazzled by the idea of an acoustic five string. It seemed like my dream come true. A couple years later Jonathan Cooper made the five string viola I play.” This writer had a five string put into his hands by Bobby Hicks in 1979, but there were still so few 5-string instruments out there that it took another 28 years to obtain one I liked.
Other problems do crop up, such as tuning. The wide spread of fifth intervals sometimes necessitates some custom tempering. Lauren: “It’s tricky! I tune in perfect fifths when I’m playing with other string players. If I’m playing with piano, I try to temper the G and C”. Enion: “if I tune in equal tempered 5ths with a tuner(something I don’t do unless playing with fretted instruments), the interval between C string and E string can be quite out of tune, and it makes the E-string warble in an annoying way”. Casey and Brittany notice small tuning anomalies between the G string and the C string on some fives. The different thicknesses and brands of strings may contribute to these kinds of problems. Daryl uses D’Addario’s Helicore 5 string set. Lauren uses Zyex viola strings, Casey uses Helicore heavy with a Thomastik Spirocore C string. The C string choice is a challenge because of the extremely short scale, but these choices are working well for the players.
I asked if there were any tricks or techniques anybody used to make the 5 string work better or be more effective. Some players use a viola bow for more power and to get more sound out of the low string. They use the flatter part of the bow hair, closer to viola technique, which is common in most fiddle technique anyway. Some of the folk with smaller hands mention that stretching exercises are a must before playing. Some improvising players reserve the low notes for the very end of their solo, to give the element of surprise. More than a couple of bluegrass players often retune their low string to a note of the tonic chord of the tune, especially B or B♭, giving the fiddle added resonance. For appalachian-style fiddlers, who often completely retune their instruments to an open chord for each tune, the fifth open string can add a fantastical resonance which can supercharge a whole band.
This writer is currently enjoying 3 five string fiddles: a Dahlia, an excellent five-string conversion from noted fiddlemaker Robert Kogut, and a stunning new 5 string instrument from the late luthier John Sullivan, his last instrument and one of two he made (the other one belongs to Enion Pelta).
—Darol Anger