Modular Fiddle
How to Buy a Modular Fiddle
Feb
Modularity breeds variation, which means options, which means a surprisingly complex product to list on your website! This post will guide you through how to buy a Modular Fiddle and how to get different levels of customization for your build.
If you are having trouble or have questions, please get in touch! You can call/text me (David) at 503-967-5542, DM me on Instagram (@dsp39), or get in touch through the contact form.
Purchase kits to build your own
First, you need to decide if you would like to build the fiddle yourself or if you would like me to build it for you. You can read through the assembly instructions to see if you’re up for the labor required.
TLDR: it’s about 4 hours of labor and requires a couple specialized tools (small files) to get it set up just right, but if you don’t get the setup right, it won’t be any fun to play.
If you would like to build your own, great! Building your own fiddle is super fun and you will gain the understanding of how the instrument is made.
If you can print your own parts, purchase just the kit of off-the-shelf parts. I’ll email you the 3D print files needed that match your kit configuration.
If you need the printed parts, purchase the off-the-shelf parts kit and the printed parts kit. Keep reading to learn more about the customization options.
Buy a customized fully built Modular Fiddle
I love building complete fiddles. It lets me ensure that your Modular Fiddle is set up correctly and plays great. To customize and purchase a fully built 4-string violin or viola, or 5-string violin or viola, you need to purchase the off-the-shelf parts kit, the printed parts kit , and the assembly labor. All three!
After you purchase your fiddle, I’ll follow up with you to select colors. See the section, below, on customization options for more info.
You can also buy a Modular Fiddle that I have already built! You don’t get to choose colors or options, but it is ready to ship. This is the fastest way to get a Modular Fiddle.
Click below to see what builds are available.
Want a Hardanger or Gamba?
Great! If you would like to order a custom Hardanger build, purchase this listing for a Hardanger Fiddle built to order. If you’re interested in a Viola da Gamba, that is not currently listed, but I would be happy to make one for you. Get in touch through the contact page to request a build.
Electric Options
For the moment, I am still testing different pickup options to find the best and most cost effective solution for the Modular Fiddle. I have a variety of options available, but currently only the budget CV-210E is available in a kit. To be honest, I have found that these are not very good pickups and are very unreliable. If you are interested in an electric Modular Fiddle, please contact me directly to discuss the options. For more info I have a blog post all about this, you can read that here.
Customization for complete builds and kits
For any of the ‘standard’ builds (4 or 5-string violin or viola), you have a variety of options to choose from. The most important options are tuner style and material choice.
Tuner style will drive the aesthetic of the pegbox, and the tuner style also has a big impact on ease of tuning (or ease of assembly). I currently recommend tune-a-lele tuners for all 4 and 5-string builds. They’re just so light, so easy to install, and work great.
For materials and colors you have three options.
Lowest cost — black and white PLA. You will get to choose which parts are white and which are black (I follow up via email). You can make a nice fiddle with black and white. Your fiddle can’t get hot, though! Even five minutes sitting in the sun on a warm day could ruin your instrument.
Middle of the road — premium PLA and CFPLA. This gives you the best sound and you can choose any material from Proto Pasta’s HTPLA offerings. For best sound I recommend black or grey carbon fiber PLA. This option also can’t get warm — no outdoor sunny summertime gigs!
Best of the best — premium annealed HTPLA and HTPLA-CF. This gives you high temperature performance and even better acoustics but limits your neck and body color to black or grey. With this option, you can leave your fiddle in the sun or in your trunk in LA in the summer and it won’t matter a bit. This option has a higher risk of part failure during the build process, though, so it also adds cost.
You just bought a kit or complete build…now what?
If you bought a printed parts kit or a complete build (by purchasing the two kits and assembly labor) then we need to decide on your colors! I will follow up with you via email to do this, and we will probably have some back and forth. I can make a few quick renders to show how your colors might look, like this:
If you purchased an off-the-shelf parts kit, I’ll send you an email with tracking info as well as all the 3D print files you need for your specific options.
Custom Builds
Many of the options now available were designed as custom builds for other customers. By offering these custom designs for sale here, I am able to offer reduced rates on new custom fiddle designs and builds. If you are looking for something unique — whether it’s a crazy solid body style or an electric violin with sympathetic understrings (to name a couple examples) — get in touch! You can call/text me (David) at 503-967-5542, DM me on Instagram (@dsp39), or get in touch through the contact form.