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Instruments

For the following instruments I have moulds and templates, and their design has shown to be musically valid. I hope that the pictures will provide you with the basic information concerning their outward appearance. About my tonal goals you can read more in the “Background” pages:

Classical violin
The model is after Guarneri del Gesu, but not after a violin in particular.
Big classical viola (body 43,5cm,  str.l. 37,5cm)
The model is more or less original. The layout of the centre part however is strongly inspired by Gasparo Bertolotti.
Small classical viola (body 39,5cm,  str.l. 37cm)
This is a close copy of a composite instrument. Belly and scroll are venerable, probably Italian (English?), the back being a 19th century addition;
Small modern viola (body 39,5cm, str.l. 35,7cm)
The body is a close copy of the Gasparo viola from ca. 1580, but scroll and f-holes are original;
Big cello (body 80cm,  str.l. 72cm)
This is also an original model, but I had a close look at the Stradivari "Servais", and I imagined what an uncut Gofriller cello would have been like;
Violoncello piccolo ("viola pomposa", body 45,5cm, str.l. 42,5cm)
This is mainly a close copy of the Hoffmann instrument in the Brussels Musical Instrument Museum, but I thought it wise to turn to the Leipzig Hoffman for additional information, e.g. for the rib height;
Double bass (str.l. 104cm)
A close copy of the Gasparo "O'Stoole" (1602?), but is it is. I didn't venture to give it a 'real' baroque set up.
Viola d'amore, 6 string without sympathic strings
This instrument is a copy of the Skotchofsky instrument in the Musée de la Musique in Paris, labeled Darmstadt 1727, inv. Nr. E. 1553. The sympathic strings are obviously a later addition, rudely cutting through the delicate carving of the back of the scroll. The obviously new bass bar is stamped “R&M Millant a Paris” without date. The result from experiments with an all metal stringing for the more normal tunings was a stringlength of 37,5cm. This allowed me to reduce the original bodylength of 44cm to a much more manageable 40,5cm, leaving all internal ratios unaltered.