Imagine for a moment you are a budding viola player who wants to buy your own instrument, but the up to $3,000 price tag is a bit too steep. Realize also that you have access to a CNC machining center. You see where we’re going with this?

One determined stringed-instrument player has turned his love for music and high-speed machining into a problem-solver. The blogger, who only goes by the name of “Mark,” carved the body of his 5-string viola—in the notes of C, G, D, A and E through steel-cored strings—using a CNC router; he designed the entire instrument himself. “Building my own is significantly cheaper than buying one,” he says.

Of course, we’re guessing that the CNC machine probably set his employer back more than a few grand. Check out his blog for more pics and details.

[Source: IDSA—The Buzz]