In 2004 Brad Hoyt commissioned me to make a harp version of a Viola Caipira. The Viola Caipira is a small Brazilian folk guitar. The string length is 580mm and it has 5 courses of paired strings. The lower three courses have the paired string an octave higher, like that of a regular 12-string guitar. You use your fingers to play the instrument and not with a pick/plectrum as you might presume with having paired strings. There are apparently a number of different tunings but the most common is... B,E, g#, b, e. An open E Major chord.

I was put in touch with one of Brazil's professional luthiers, Marcos Hootz. He makes many fine Viola Caipire instruments each year with Aldo Murara Filho. Brad wanted a combination of designs, traditional viola caipira, with elements of my personal design taste as well as aspects of the Larson harp mandolins and Knutsen's harp guitars and mandolins.

The instrument was finished in 2008. In the construction it was important to maintain the traditional sound of the instrument, yet adding more to it. Normally Brazilian rosewood would be used for the fingerboard but we opted for ebony because it feels smoother to play. Brad also requested a port hole and the lid to it is held in place by magnets. The treble strings are clamped in place and tuned by a special custom made Treble Tuning Unit. Special thanks to Chad Magill for the gold plating.

Arpa Viola Caipira

Arpa Viola Caipira II

This is the second Arpa Viola Caipira I've made for Brad Hoyt. The instrument was finished in 2012 and was hand delivered at the 10th Harp Guitar Gathering in Texas. The original instrument has dropped a tone in tuning (D) and this one is in E. The reason for having a second instrument was so that Brad didn't have to spend so much time changing the tunings. A special thanks goes out to his father Jim Hoyt who made the hardware for the super treble section. Main differences... • Back and Sides: Wenge • Rosette and Inlays: Spalted Maple • Bindings: Koa • Hardware: Chrome

Brad H oyt performing at the 10th Harp Guitar Gathering in Texas, with the new AVC.

Special thanks to Brazilian guitarist Leandro Cristiano de Alm eide. Here is a photo of Leandro looking at the AVC when he visited my workshop.

• Arpa Viola Caipira: Part 1 by Brad Hoyt • Arpa Viola Caipira: Part 2 by Brad Hoyt • The Brazilian home page of the Viola Caipira

AVC tuning • Sub Basses D#,, E,, F#,, G#,, A,, • Guitar B,, E, G#, B, e, • Super Trebles b, c#' d#' e f#

• Soundboard: Sitka spruce • Back & Sides: Brazilian rosewood • Neck: Brazilian Mahogany • Fingerboard: Ebony • Finish: French polish • B Tuners: Gold Steinburger • G Tuners: Gold Gotoh 710 • T Tuners: Custom TTU • Nut width: 48mm (1 7/8 ") • Scale length: 580mm (22 13/16 ") • Body width: 380mm (15") • Body depth: 100mm (3 15/16 ")

We're always searching for new and unique stringed instruments to explore. We've deep-sampled an exquisite custom-built 30-string acoustic Harp Guitar commissioned by guitarist Brad Hoyt. This unique instrument, titled the "Arpa Viola Caipira", is the result of a four year design and construction process with master luthier Stephen Sedgwick from the U.K, based on Brad's concept drawings. Captured in our studio up close and dry, with a wide stereo pair of large diaphragm studio Neumanns, this library captures every nuance of the instrument with a full set of articulations and effects to provide you complete playability. Check out this promo video to hear the library in action. Our exclusive library gives you deep round robin, true legato, auto-strumming, arpeggiation, custom string tuning and tons of features. It includes over 10 GB of content and more than 4000 samples, a powerful custom GUI for customized work flow and instant gratification.