When I traded in my Eastman 101 16” viola, the only part that bothered me was that I had just put new Obligatos on it about 1 1/2 - 2 weeks earlier. When the luthier was sitting by us changing out the chinrest on the Rudoulf Doetsch, I told him, “Well, you have nice fairly new Obligatos on the Eastman. I put them on about 1 1/2 weeks ago, maybe 2 weeks.” He said, “Nice”. 

I didn’t pay attention to the strings on my new Rudoulf Doetsch until I had been playing it at home. Much to my surprise, they are Obligatos! The lower end violas and violins get Dominants. I did not realize that I had stepped up to the Obligato level, so to speak.

To quote the luthier, “Nice!”