Hugh Withycombe 'Wilpena' 2025 Viola 16.5"

This viola was made by Hugh Withycombe in 2025, in Canberra, Australia. Hugh Withycombe trained at the Newark School of Violin Making, graduating in 2001, before working with Florian Leonhard Fine Violins and Frederick Phelps in London. He returned to Australia and established his workshop in Canberra, where he has spent more than two decades making instruments for musicians in Australia and the United States. Since 2015, Withycombe has been a faculty member at the Oberlin Violin Makers Workshop. His work combines classical European violin-making traditions with a visual and material sensibility shaped by the Australian landscape. Withycombe makes violins, violas and cellos, with each instrument developed in response to the qualities of its materials. His extensive experience in restoration and repair informs his meticulous approach to setup and sound optimisation.

The viola is labelled "Hugh Withycombe / Made in Canberra 2025". The body measures 422mm along the back, 205mm across the upper bouts and 242mm across the lower bouts. It has a one-piece back of maple, no flame, with well-matched ribs and scroll, and the top is a broadly grained spruce and is lightly antiqued. The viola is finished with an amber varnish and a sonowood beech fingerboard and tailpiece, and rosewood pegs.