Viola rentals, sized and set up for your student.
School-year rental
Short-term available
Sizes 11″ to 16.5″
Every viola we rent is set up on our bench in Norwalk before it goes out: the bridge fitted to that instrument, the sound post placed, the string height adjusted. Your student gets a viola that plays properly from the first day.
Our violas are built or chosen to a standard we set, then set up by our own luthiers.
Our White Label violas we buy, from a small group of workshops we’ve worked with for twenty years. Our Black Label violas we have custom built to Kenneth Kuo’s specifications. Our Euro Label violas we collect from European workshops. Teachers and directors have approved all three, and students and professionals have played them in concerts, competitions and recordings. Every one is set up here in Norwalk before it goes out.
Educator-approved · Set up in-house before every rental · Free adjustments for as long as you rent
Our three viola labels
All three are spruce, maple and ebony. What changes is the grade of wood the maker starts with, what he does with the extra days on the bench, how much tone the finished viola gives back, and which sizes each label comes in. Most shops rent you one student viola. We’d rather you picked. The photographs show a representative instrument from each label. More about our string instruments and labels.
White Label
We buy these from a small group of workshops we’ve worked with for twenty years, and nothing goes into the fleet unless it clears the standard we set: it has to sound like a viola, play like a viola, look like a viola, and be safe and easy under a child’s hand. Most families renting for the first year or two choose this one, and it covers the smaller sizes a young player needs. It comes with four adjustable fine tuners, a real horsehair bow, a case, rosin and a name tag.
Sizes 11″, 12″, 13″, 14″
DELUXE
Black Label
We have these custom built for us. Kenneth Kuo specifies the wood, how thin it’s carved, the varnish and the finish, and checks each instrument against what he asked for before it joins the fleet. Flamed maple back, ribs and scroll, a spruce top and a solid ebony fingerboard, the same materials all fine violas are made from. Building one takes considerably longer than a stock viola, and what you’re paying for is the maker. Someone who has been building for decades takes the plates thinner in the places that open up the sound, and gives the fitting and the oil varnish the time they need. Comes with a real horsehair bow, a case and a name tag.
Sizes 13″, 14″, 15″, 15½”, 16″, 16½”
PREMIUM
Euro Label
We collect these. Most rental companies don’t carry European instruments at all. These are European violas built between the 1970s and the 1990s, in workshops from Germany to Romania, and kept in storage ever since. The wood, lacquer and varnish were applied decades ago, so these have aged naturally rather than being finished to look old. Genuinely aged instruments in this condition are rare, and availability is limited.
Sizes 13″, 14″, 15″, 15½”, 16″, 16½”
Not sure which to choose?
Choose White Label if you’re watching the budget, or if your student is still learning to handle an instrument carefully. The first year or two is when instruments get knocked about, and this is the one you’d rather that happened to. It also covers the smaller sizes.
Choose Black Label if your student is a few years in and practicing seriously, or if you’d rather pay a little more for an instrument that gives more back.
Choose Euro Label if your student is auditioning or competing and wants the best we rent for the school year.
Whichever you pick, you can move up mid year without a penalty, and nothing is charged until we call to confirm.
Renting can count toward owning.
If you decide to buy a viola from us, up to 24 months of what you’ve already paid in rental fees can be applied to the purchase price, excluding tax and insurance. So the years spent renting while your child grows aren’t money spent instead of buying. They count toward it. And if they move on to something else, you simply return the instrument.
Up to 24 months creditable · Free size swaps as they grow · Ask us when you’re ready
What size viola does my child need?
Unlike violins, violas are measured in inches. The number refers to the body length, not counting the neck. Size is set by arm length, not age. Here’s a general guide; the scroll test on the right is what actually settles it.
A note on sizing: we never size by age or height, because children come in every shape. The measurement that matters is arm length: from the side of the neck to the middle of the palm, arm fully extended, palm up. This chart assists when a teacher is not available, and your teacher always makes the final call.
| Viola size | Arm length |
|---|---|
| 11” | 20” to 21” |
| 12” | 21” to 22” |
| 13” | 22” to 23” |
| 14” | 23” to 24” |
| 15” | 24” to 25” |
| 15½” | 25” to 26” |
| 16” and 16½” | 26” and up |
Switching from violin? As a rough guide, a 12” viola is about the size of a 1/2 violin, 13” is close to a 3/4, and 14” is close to a full size. From 15” up you are into adult violas, where the choice is as much about tone and reach as size.
White Label covers 11″ to 14″. Black and Euro Label run 13″ to 16.5″. Larger violas have a deeper, richer tone but need longer arms to play comfortably.
The scroll test
Have your child hold the viola in playing position with their chin on the chinrest, then reach their left arm under and around the scroll. If they can curl their fingers around the end of the scroll with a slight bend at the elbow, the size fits. If their fingers can’t reach, go one size smaller.
Don’t want to guess? Bring your child to the Norwalk shop and we’ll size them for free in a couple of minutes. New York families: your child’s teacher can size them in class, or we’re glad to help by phone.
Students grow, so when it’s time for the next size up, string renters swap to the larger viola free of charge.
Violin or viola: what’s the difference?
Parents ask this constantly, usually because a school orchestra has asked their child to switch. The short answer: the viola is the larger, lower-voiced sibling, and it’s played almost identically, but it isn’t just a big violin.
- It’s tuned a fifth lower, which gives it a deeper, richer tone that’s ideal for harmony lines.
- It’s bigger, so the notes are farther apart on the fingerboard, so fingerings differ and a student switching over needs a short adjustment period.
- The strings are thicker and slower to respond, and the bow is heavier with a wider band of hair, so violists bow more deliberately.
- Violists read alto clef, not treble, which is usually the biggest adjustment for a student coming from violin.
If your student is switching mid-year, talk to us. We can swap a violin rental to a viola and sort out the sizing.
Everything your student needs to start.
Every viola rental arrives ready to play, no extra shopping trip required.
- The viola, set up in-house
- Bow with real horsehair
- Case
- Rosin
- Four adjustable fine tuners
- Name tag
The common viola mishaps, and how to avoid them.
Violas are tougher than they look, but a few things trip up new families. None of these are disasters, and normal wear is expected.
Most common issues
- The bridge leans or falls. It’s held up by string tension, not glue. Keep it straight and centered between the f-holes. A crooked bridge hurts the tone.
- Pegs slip in dry weather. Wood shrinks in winter heating. Use the fine tuners for small corrections and let us reset the pegs.
- Cracks from dryness. Keep the viola away from radiators and out of hot cars; a room humidifier in winter helps.
- Bow warping. Leaving the hair tight bends the stick over time, so always loosen it after playing.
Easy habits that prevent them
- Tighten before, loosen after. Turn the screw below the frog to tighten the bow before playing, and always loosen it before it goes back in the case.
- Rosin the bow. Run the rosin quickly and lightly along the hair, in sections, until the hair looks a little whiter.
- Wipe the strings. A soft cloth after practice keeps rosin from building up and dulling the tone.
- When in doubt, bring it in. Small problems are quick fixes; ignored ones get expensive. Tuning and minor adjustments are free.
Viola rental questions
Answered by the luthiers and technicians who repair these every day. Browse all viola questions.
The bridge fell off my child’s violin. What do I do?
Loosen the strings slightly, lay the instrument in its case, and bring it in. Don't stand the bridge back up yourself, and don't let anyone else improvise it: resetting is quick, routine work at our counter, and a fallen bridge almost never means anything is broken.
What is a luthier, and why does it matter for a rental?
A lot of people just call us the violin doctor, and that is exactly what a luthier is: someone trained to build, repair, and care for string instruments. The word is reserved for strings. You would not call a piano technician or a clarinet repair tech a luthier. It comes from the lute, one of the oldest instruments in the family, and the trade has been passed down since the instruments themselves evolved from it into the violin, viola, cello, and bass.
Does winter really damage instruments?
Yes. Dry winter heat shrinks the wood, which means slipping pegs, constant tuning drift, open seams, and in the worst cases a cracked top. The fix is cheap: a humidifier in the room where your child practices from December through March, distance from radiators and parked cars, and an early visit if a seam opens. Winter is our busiest repair season, and most of what comes in was preventable.
Why are violas measured in inches instead of fractions?
Because there is no standard "full size" viola. Violins scale up to a fixed 4/4 and stop. Violas are built in a continuous range of body lengths, and a 15" and a 16" are both adult instruments. They simply sound different, the larger being deeper and richer.
The director wants my violinist to switch to viola. Is that starting over?
No, and it happens so often it is practically a tradition: most of what your child knows transfers directly, and the genuinely new work is a few weeks of alto clef. School orchestras are chronically short of violists, so somewhere around a student's fifth, sixth, or seventh year of violin, a director or teacher leans over and says: have you thought about the viola? It is meant as a compliment. It usually is one.
Questions every rental family asks
Should we rent or buy our child’s first instrument?
Rent, in almost every case: beginners can't yet handle an instrument safely, children outgrow sizes and switch instruments, and renting turns those surprises into a phone call instead of a buying mistake. And we would say that even if we didn't rent instruments.
What happens if my child quits after a few months?
Then you return the instrument. That is the whole point of renting instead of buying, it happens in every school year, and nobody here will make it awkward.
Will I be charged for normal wear and tear?
No, not for normal wear: strings wearing out, rosin used up, bow hair breaking strand by strand, a case zipper giving out. That is expected, and it is never charged to you. Damage is different: dents, cracks from drops, a broken bow, carved initials. We always tell you which side of the line we think something sits on before any chargeable work happens, and the insurance exists for the genuine accidents and the gray areas.
Ready to rent a viola?
Start your school-year rental online, or request a short-term quote for a performance. One of our staff members will confirm the size with you before anything is charged.