Good friend — and guitar luthier to the stars — Dwight of DRW Guitars, once said, “Come by my workshop, I’ve got something interesting to show you.” And boy, he wasn’t kidding. Sitting there was a guitar bowed like a cello, unfortunately with a cracked top. It turned out to be an early prototype of a GuitarViol made by TogaMan, who has since become a legendary maker of this instrument.
The instrument is strung like a low guitar but had a neck projection reminiscent of a cello, clearly influenced by arpeggione and other classical bowed instruments, which carried lower tension strings, and a reduced neck projection.
Inside , and inside the body were Baroque-style images and a dedication from the maker: “To God be the Glory.” Beautifully made, it was both striking to look at and modern in some design aspects — strung with Helicore cello strings.
This early version had been gifted to Brian from a film director. Brian is a film score composer and performer extraordinaire (check out his filmography). Despite its beauty, the instrument bore the structural DNA of a guitar. It had a mostly flat top, though with a bass bar and soundpost beneath. Over time, the tension of six strings across a raised bridge caused the bass bar to crack and the top to deform badly.
The first repair — beefing up the bass bar and reinforcing the soundpost area with a patch — lasted about a year. It worked reasonably well, but the stresses were immense. Though the reinforcements held, the top plate began to splinter and separate. Conversations with TogaMan himself confirmed that this was a known challenge with the early models. After much trial and error, he had moved on to hybrid laminated tops made of balsa, spruce, and hemp.
Unfortunately, with his workshop located across the Pacific and his schedule packed, sending the instrument back for a replacement top wasn’t realistic. That’s when it landed back in my workshop. My task: to build a new top that honored the spirit of the original while standing the test of time — and, crucially, sounding good.
The challenges were many. A high neck projection exerts tremendous static force through the bridge, but the top still needs to vibrate freely to produce tone. On top of that, the original bridge had dug deeply into the top. My first stop was research: arpeggiones and six-string cellos. I studied their top plate construction and thicknesses, then developed arching and plate templates strong enough to handle six steel-core strings. To spread the load, I widened the bridge feet for more surface contact and less chance of indenting.
Work began with a carving table. I quickly made an MDF prototype top to check proportions, visual aesthetics, and bridge placement. Should the edges echo the roll-off of an arpeggione? A guitar edge? Or perhaps the S-shaped curves of bowed strings? The design had to balance tone, structure, and Brian’s preferences. From there, I refined the arching templates and plate thickness profiles before carving, tuning, and finishing the new top.
The instrument eventually came together — admittedly taking a little longer than Brian had hoped. But I wanted to get it right. After finishing it, he took it away for a few months to let the new top settle, play it in and to get acquainted with its voice. At first, it didn’t speak loudly, but after some fine-tuning back in the workshop (and a colour change), it began to open up beautifully. Along the way we also explored bow choice, rosin, and pickup placement, all part of shaping its character – and a colour change.
I’m deeply grateful to Brian for trusting me with this project. It was equal parts challenge and joy. The sound samples are promising, and I’m looking forward to hearing this instrument in some upcoming A-list films.
Feedback from Brian
At first I was super apprehensive to go down the road of replacing the top, Dan was always transparent with me, giving me no guarantees of the final result.
The instrument holds incredible sentimental value and I was worried I’d end up with a trophy hanging on my studio wall rather than a powerful composition tool.
When I first took it home I was gutted, it was such a change and not for the better, I became obsessed in making sure it was still useful through my guitar FX board with a pickup.
After a couple of months of constantly playing it to help it settle in, something happened, It came to life acoustically. I think it just needed time for Dan’s craftsmanship to settle in.
It’s now back in full action and has made its way onto my current film score, The Beast In Me starring Russle Crow, couldn’t be happier!
Brian Cachia
A big thank you also to my teacher, David Brown and other luthier friends, for his guidance, and to the Sydney Strings Centre for consulting on/supplying the timber that made this build possible.