In Cremona, the early makers glued the saddle onto the surface of the rib, extending it directly upwards through the top. These saddles are all gone, but once in a while, as on this beautiful Carlo Bergonzi violin, one gets to see the shadow of what originally was there,
Traces of a Cremonese Saddle Read More »
This f-hole is on a Brothers Amati cello dated around 1615. It’s one of the most beautiful I’ve seen, and is perfectly executed.
A Nearly-Perfect F-hole Read More »
It’s rare to see pre-modern violins with their original necks instead of grafted modern ones. Usually an old neck is modernized by unmounting it from the rib, adding some on the bottom, and resetting the neck in the modern, stronger way.
