Our latest 15 1/2 inch highly decorated viola is modeled after an instrument made ca.1580 by Gasparo Bertolotti (1542-1609) known as Gasparo da Salo'.  Thurmond Knight copied the original, using northwestern Canadian spruce for the top and maple from southern Germany for the back, ribs and neck.  The back is decorated with inlaid purfling.  Both the top and back have double purfling around the periphery.  Due to the shorter string length that Bertolotti used, this viola is ideal for musicians who play both violin and viola.  Because of its compact size, going back and forth between instruments is almost seamless.  The tone has been described as, "Very large, warm and robust!" 

The viola is dedicated to Thurmond's aunt Aurora Onida Knight, nicknamed Aunt "Snip."  The Lori Gottschalk family in Springfield, Illinois, now owns Aunt Snip, and has added her to their collection of two other instruments made by Thurmond, including the Venus Violin, modeled after the "Betts" made by Antonio Stradivari in 1704, and the Malcolm/Otto Cello, a copy of Domenico Montagnana's "Sleeping Beauty" made in 1739.

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