Hi,
By chance I found this website, I read the e-mails below and saw one person wants a 16.5" viola and another person was recommending a Gliga instrument. This is a bit of a sales pitch but I am actually looking to sell my Gliga instrument which just happpens to be 16.5"!!!!!! If you`re interested please contact me, I am selling the instrument with a brand new bow and case perfectly equipt for a beginner!!! If you want photos or to try it please contact me at stringz_4@hotmail.com - I know this is cheeky, sorry!!!!

If you are new to stringed instruments I would suggest seeking out a good instructor and renting a viola first.

In regards to violas and sizes:
I am 6’2” with a 6’4” wingspan (fingertip to fingertip)
I play a 17” Gliga Vasile with Zyex heavy strings.

John

I would say Bai LiXing`s instruments are pretty good. It is the factory made, thousands produced a year that are the problem.

where is the factory? where are the thousands of productions?

I had no idea that everybody has/playes Gligas. I have a gliga vasile as well and it`s been a great instrument! ! ! It`s a 16", I`m 5.4 and have long arms - it`s almost a little to big. What I have heard is that you should be able to hold the scroll in your left hand while in playing position. If you have small hands, shorten it up a bit of course Ebay is proving to be a great resource for musicians, I don`t however recommend purchasing `student` grade instruments, they are already so low in price that by auction ending you are paying a lot more for something not as good. If you buy student grade and practice hard, in a year you will be dissapointed. I don`t think the tonal quality in student instruments helps people want to practice Check the pawn shops too - my 2nd viola I paid 200$ for, it appraised at 1200$. All because I told the sales guy that because it was missing an embelishment on one of the pegs (a small piece of decorative ivory) that it was almost useless. He cut the price in half! ! ! You can get a good deal on an intermediate viola! :~)

Buy yourself a 16" viola, 16.5" would probably also be fine for you. See your local music store; they may have a good deal. My local music store has Chinese instruments for $80 (with case and bow). I really like them, actually, and so do the other teachers in my area (I`m a string teacher). If you can`t find one there, you could buy one from Shar, but I`ve found those aren`t particularly good quality (they`re built to LAST, so that young beginners can beat on them and not break them...they`re not built to be weighted correctly or sound nice, which you`ll want -- I`m assuming you don`t plan to treat the instrument poorly).

Email if you have any other questions.

I`m don`t have that much money, but I got a 17.5" Genial viola from violinslover.com. Very, very inexpensive ... made in Romania. Not so great strings (Papay), but great sound. Violas from Violinslover.com. Check out the site.