Sound
The starting point for the sound concept of my instruments is the spectral analysis of instruments of highest quality, a research of several years of the available literature and scientific findings as well as own measurements and simulations.
The goal was to define an objective catalog of characteristics for the elusive yet often cited attribute of ‘Italian sound’ that everyone uses but no one is able to quantify. Nevertheless, it is necessary that the visual and haptic properties of the instrument correspond to the sound.
The wood always plays an important role in the creation of sound. Wood selection, its treatment and the acoustic fine-tuning of sound-determining parts of the body (especially back, top, fingerboard and neck) are essential for the success of the instrument. In addition to traditional tuning methods, modern measurement equipment allows to analyze and then manually optimize the resonance behavior of the instrument to a particular degree.
While the initial aim was to study and recreate the sound ideal of the old masters, this knowledge could be expanded to meet the demands of today’s instrumentalists and modern concert performances. As a result one gets exceptional resonance characteristics that can be heard and felt.
The method is not only transferable to different instruments (violin, viola and cello), but also suitable for creating different styles in order to obtain the desired sound character, e.g. for chamber musicians, orchestra musicians or soloists.
In dialogue with musicians, violin makers and scientists, I was able to define a construction method and methodology based on traditional violin making as well as modern techniques, reproducibly realizing my personal sound ideal.
I invite you to experience what makes the sound of my instruments.
Art
The fundamentals of violin making lie in discoveries of the so called “golden period” in Italy, whose heyday can be outlined by the lives of the famous Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri families. The craftsmanship at that time was extraordinary.
Modern violin making is still based on the aesthetic ideals of this period – both in sound and craftsmanship.
Despite modern technology and machine tools, craftsmanship with hand-held tools is a mandatory requirement for success in modern violin making.
The concept of aesthetics of this time does not include the numerically measurable striving for precision and perfection of today, but leaves room for individual execution details in form and shape, which are revealed in the choice of model, the arching, the design of the scroll, the inlay (edge decoration) and varnish – among many other things. The result responds to the individual wood in a way that cannot be achieved in a machine-made building process and still surpasses it today.
It is not stoic uniformity which carachterizes the hallmark of craftsmanship, but rather individuality in the perfect execution of a detail that has been handcrafted, fitting the the given ressources and situation. The hand-built instrument is unique and – despite a tonal and structurally clear concept – has an individual touch that distinguishes it and sets it apart from manufactured instruments. This is what I strive for.
Building a new instrument allows to take the individual wishes and specifications of the musician into account, combining elements that one has to search for a long time if you only look for historical instruments. The woods used for instrument making are cut, split and dried over years, sometimes decades, either by myself or by a few select tonewood dealers. An elaborate selection and refinement process ensures that only the most suitable woods are used, as they define the limits of what craftsmanship is capable of creating from them.
The primer, the sealer and the varnish, obtained from natural resins in complex processes, are applied in defined layers one after the other and are essential elements of the appearance and sound. Each instrument is a new challenge.
Science
Modern science and the resulting knowledge of physical properties enrich instrument making with tools that contribute to the creation of exceptional instruments.
On the one hand, technical measurements allow the characterization of the desired properties of known high-quality instruments in order to qualify and quantify these aprameters. On the other hand, these procedures guide the individual construction phases and monitor the quality of the individual elements. This way a new building process can be developed which help to achieve tonal characteristics close to ideal.
Through specific treatment and finishing methods, the wood used in its raw state can be optimized, as well as the finished individual parts such as the back, top, rim, neck with scroll, the fingerboard, and of course the varnish in general.
Among other things, ultrasonic sound velocity measurements, spectral analyses, impedance behavior and modal analysis tools are used. In addition to the analysis of the instrument as a whole, the optimization of individual components also plays an important role.
If all these findings are applied together with traditional construction methods and the wealth of experience of historical violin making, new ways for modern instrument making open up in order to meet the goal of creating an instrument that is tailored to the musician.