A resident of Tennessee, Daniel Oliver has more than two decades of experience as a luthier and has worked for Georg Heinl & Co in Toronto, William Harris Lee in Chicago, and Ronald Sachs in Georgia, among others. He crafts predominantly cellos on a commission basis but has been working with Cohen Violins to develop a viola model at a price point of just under $5,000, of which, this is the first. This 15 7/8” viola is a personal model that was loosely inspired by a form of Goffriller’s and features a richly textured and lightly antiqued spirit varnish, with blackened chamfers to the scroll, inwardly turned Stradivari inspired f holes, and very generous arching to accommodate more vibrating airspace in a smaller box.