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Hi Bruce,

 

I did intend to upset you with my question, my apologies. Can you offer any insight to the instruments that you worked on?  Are there more to the collection not exhibited here?  What work did you do on them? Which do you think is the finest of the lot?  The most well made, the "best" sounding? Very cool that you got to lay your hands on some of these beauts.  Do they get played or are they strictly museum pieces at this point.

 

Thanks for your contribution,

BassClef

The instruments are "managed" by The Friends of Stradivari here in Cremona and some, not all, are given on loan to musicians. Any work I have done has been at the level of maintenance, none have required restoration since.

 

The violin I have seen the most is the "Scotland University",  more recently played by Sergei Krylov. Acoustically it is difficult to compare because I've never had the opportunity to hear them at the same time through direct comparison. Krylov sounds good even if he's playing a shoe box strung with overcooked spaghetti. :lol:

 

Personally I have always had a soft spot for the Amati family.

 

Bruce

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On the issue of collections I would like to mention the Dextra Musica collection here in Oslo. All these instruments are on loan to talented players. I do quite a bit of work for this collection, and perhaps especially if you are interested in extremely well-preserved Guadagninis (don't tell me you're not!) this is a very fine collection, and is to be developed further.  Most of it is viewable online here:

 

http://sparebankstiftelsen.no/Dextra-Musica/Instrumentene

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On the issue of collections I would like to mention the Dextra Musica collection here in Oslo. All these instruments are on loan to talented players. I do quite a bit of work for this collection, and perhaps especially if you are interested in extremely well-preserved Guadagninis (don't tell me you're not!) this is a very fine collection, and is to be developed further.  Most of it is viewable online here:

 

http://sparebankstiftelsen.no/Dextra-Musica/Instrumentene

Thank you for contributing to the thread, that collection is fantastic.  I particularly liked this 1580 Bass.

 

The Dextra Musica website states: "This magnificent bass was made by the man considered to be the father of the instrument, Gaspar Bertolotti, known as "da Salò". It is certainly the oldest instrument in this collection, made at the end of the 16th century."

 

Did Bertolotti produce mostly dark instruments like this Bass? Did he introduce the dark varnish/color to his contemporaries or did he follow someone who came before him in this regard? What can you tell us about the use of dark varnish in general in 1580? Also, was there once a massive bassbar crack that was repaired? If so, have you worked on that repair and can you tell us when and through what method the crack was repaired?

G.-da-Salo-1580-Kontrabass-3_full.jpg

 

What can you tell us about the collection and the work you've done with it? Were there particular challenges, victories, and defeats that you encountered during your time doing work for the Dextra Musica Foundation that you'd be willing to share?

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The instruments are "managed" by The Friends of Stradivari here in Cremona and some, not all, are given on loan to musicians. Any work I have done has been at the level of maintenance, none have required restoration since.

 

The violin I have seen the most is the "Scotland University",  more recently played by Sergei Krylov. Acoustically it is difficult to compare because I've never had the opportunity to hear them at the same time through direct comparison. Krylov sounds good even if he's playing a shoe box strung with overcooked spaghetti. :lol:

 

Personally I have always had a soft spot for the Amati family.

 

Bruce

 

Thank you for your excellent post. What type of maintenance work have you done on these instruments? I would very much enjoy hearing about it.

 

My second favorite instrument from the Lam collection is the Amati Viola, it's badass. What is the best sounding violin that you have heard live, all things considered?

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On the issue of collections I would like to mention the Dextra Musica collection here in Oslo. All these instruments are on loan to talented players. I do quite a bit of work for this collection, and perhaps especially if you are interested in extremely well-preserved Guadagninis (don't tell me you're not!) this is a very fine collection, and is to be developed further.  Most of it is viewable online here:

 

http://sparebankstiftelsen.no/Dextra-Musica/Instrumentene

 

Not to mention the Kreisler Bergonzi.   :wub:

 

Speaking of which... (sorry to go OT) does anyone know the full story of how the Kreisler del Gesù wound up at LoC?

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Did Bertolotti produce mostly dark instruments like this Bass? Did he introduce the dark varnish/color to his contemporaries or did he follow someone who came before him in this regard? What can you tell us about the use of dark varnish in general in 1580? Also, was there once a massive bassbar crack that was repaired? If so, have you worked on that repair and can you tell us when and through what method the crack was repaired?

 

 

What can you tell us about the collection and the work you've done with it? Were there particular challenges, victories, and defeats that you encountered during your time doing work for the Dextra Musica Foundation that you'd be willing to share?

 

 

Too many questions :) for a poor repairman pressed for time. I'll answer briefly on the Gaspar. Yes, it has had not only a bass bar crack, but almost every conceivable kind of crack in the top. Even though it has been subject too many rough repairers (as is often the case with basses) it is now in an admirably good and stable playing condition, that many considerably younger basses could envy it. The visible repairs are very old repairs. The colour you see is a mixture of wear/patina, retouching and original colour. Exactly what the colour was like when new is not so easy to say,  but all the brescians I have seen have now rather neutral brown color in the original parts, but on a very nice cinnamon ground. That with rosin, dirt and additional dubious retouching  on top they sometimes go very dark, I believe they were brighter looking when new. Generally the whole concept of varnish is rather different in Bresica, when compared to Cremona, as is the whole school of making, of course, they age differently. 

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BassClef, on 24 Sept 2013 - 5:47 PM, said:

Thank you for your excellent post. What type of maintenance work have you done on these instruments? I would very much enjoy hearing about it.

My second favorite instrument from the Lam collection is the Amati Viola, it's badass. What is the best sounding violin that you have heard live, all things considered?

Nothing more than soundpost, bridge, smoothing the fingerboard, unglued seams etc. As I said, maintenance work. They are all in playing condition.

I find it difficult to separate the sound of a violin from the musician who is playing it. It is my impression that really fine musicians look for a certain sound that is a part of their musical ideal. In other words, you can hear something very different if you are listening to the Paganini Cannon played by different musicians.

 

Bruce

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Too many questions :) for a poor repairman pressed for time. I'll answer briefly on the Gaspar. Yes, it has had not only a bass bar crack, but almost every conceivable kind of crack in the top. Even though it has been subject too many rough repairers (as is often the case with basses) it is now in an admirably good and stable playing condition, that many considerably younger basses could envy it. The visible repairs are very old repairs. The colour you see is a mixture of wear/patina, retouching and original colour. Exactly what the colour was like when new is not so easy to say,  but all the brescians I have seen have now rather neutral brown color in the original parts, but on a very nice cinnamon ground. That with rosin, dirt and additional dubious retouching  on top they sometimes go very dark, I believe they were brighter looking when new. Generally the whole concept of varnish is rather different in Bresica, when compared to Cremona, as is the whole school of making, of course, they age differently. 

Tremendous, thanks.  What do you mean by "they age differently?"

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Nothing more than soundpost, bridge, smoothing the fingerboard, unglued seams etc. As I said, maintenance work. They are all in playing condition.

I find it difficult to separate the sound of a violin from the musician who is playing it. It is my impression that really fine musicians look for a certain sound that is a part of their musical ideal. In other words, you can hear something very different if you are listening to the Paganini Cannon played by different musicians.

 

Bruce

Interesting, thanks.  How often do seams on these old Italian violins become unglued? Is it a regular thing or did you see some of the violins after many years of neglect? Point taken about the violins/players.  Any combo of violinist/violin that stood out as a particularly amazing pairing?

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Interesting, thanks.  How often do seams on these old Italian violins become unglued? Is it a regular thing or did you see some of the violins after many years of neglect? Point taken about the violins/players.  Any combo of violinist/violin that stood out as a particularly amazing pairing?

Seams come unglued occasionally. It varies with the instrument and what the instrument is exposed to as far as travel with any humidity and temperature extremes and other causes. Player perspiration is another factor and also how they take care of their instrument. I always advise to keep the instrument in the case when not in use. I have a client who a number of years ago always left his violin on the desk in his study. One day, a bookshelf attached to the wall let go and down came everything on top of the violin. He is still playing the violin after a heavy and expensive restoration but it is still a broken violin that has lost a lot of it's commercial value. If it had been in the case nothing would have happened.

 

Young Leonidas Kavakos and Paganini's Cannon. Nathan Milstein and the Goldman Stradivari. Christian Ferras and the Milanollo Stradivari. Heifetz and the Ferdinand David 'del Gesù'. Ginette Neveu and her 'del Gesù'. Pinchas Zuckerman on the Dushkin 'del Gesù'. Shlomo Mintz on his Contreras. Gaspar Cassadò on any cello. Arthur Grumiaux on his 'del Gesù' or his J.B. Guadagnini. David Oistrakh on the Marsick Stradivari. Bruno Giuranna on his Domenico Busan viola.

 

I've left a lot of fine musicians off of this list.  :(

 

Bruce

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  • 1 year later...

Speaking of which... (sorry to go OT) does anyone know the full story of how the Kreisler del Gesù wound up at LoC?

 

The story I heard was that Kreisler was having some tax trouble with the US Internal Revenue Service.  Supposedly, his donation of his del Gesu to the Library of Congress  resolved the issue.  Don't know how true that story is.

 

Steven Csik

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BassClef,

 

Those additional photos are great.  Thanks again.

 

It looks like, as a viewer, one might have wished that the backs were as prominently displayed as were the fronts.  But you can't have everything.

 

It also looks like the instruments weren't behind glass, which is a nice change.

 

Steven Csik

 

Oops, posted on wrong thread.

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BassClef,

 

Those additional photos are great.  Thanks again.

 

It looks like, as a viewer, one might have wished that the backs were as prominently displayed as were the fronts.  But you can't have everything.

 

It also looks like the instruments weren't behind glass, which is a nice change.

 

Steven Csik

Thanks Steven, all of the instruments were in glass showcases, maybe the glass was really clear or "museum quality" as they offer it at the NYC frame stores.

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Thanks BassClef for taking the time to take, download, edit, and upload the photos. I have often wondered what violin my Vincenzo Cavani with shortened corners was based on and now that I see the del Gesù 'Baltic' up close the question has finally been answered. The Cavani looks just like it! 

 

Thanks again.

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Maybe it's just the photo or the way the varnish is wore, but the Bergonzi is beautiful.  It stands out as special to me.  BassClef if you have a photo of the back that would be appreciated.

I just looked at my original photos and I didn't get a pic of the back. As was mentioned, this exhibit was set up in a way that obscured good angles of the back of most of the instruments. Sorry and thanks for your nice comments.

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  • 6 years later...

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