• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Instruments
  • Blog
  • Contact us

Acellorondo

Sibylle Ruppert Violin Maker & Restorer

Blog

February 22, 2022 by Sibylle Ruppert

Viola

Sibylle Ruppert viola 2021
Sibylle Ruppert Viola 2021

When around 1530-1550 the first violin family instruments were built in Northern Italy, all of them were called “Viola da Braccio” – arm viola as opposed to “Viola da Gamba”-leg viola, whether they represented the soprano, alto or tenor voice. Thus the viola is the ancestor of the violin family, violino being the small viola.

Lady Fiddler and Fool by Urs Graf 1485-1528

Today the first Brescian violas are revered, but many of them, meant to represent the tenor voice and having a corpus length of well over 42cm, have been shortened in the quest to make them physically less taxing to play. Modern violists would like to have it both ways: tenor and alto, but not the physical strain of the extra large body. The Viola da Braccio ( German Bratsche) is an arm full.

16″ viola inside template between two stranded giants. These instruments hurt their owners to such an extend, that they were given up to experiment. The amateur viola on top ( label:viola pomposa buffo) currently functions as a 1/8th size cello. The 17″ viola below might be cut down.

There are a number of dedicated viola makers, who customize for the demands of the modern viola professional and their virtuosi repertoire. Those luthiers offer ergonomic models: Heart shaped bottom bouts for example, extend the fullness of the body while allowing closer access in the length. Asymmetric outlines with slimmer treble shoulders or even without a treble corner will ease playing in the high positions. Viola specialists might also finesse the traditional body for proportions, which allow maximized body versus reasonable string length. Some make super slender necks and lighten the scrolls by carving out the volutes entirely.

Sibylle Ruppert viola scroll, traditional

My 5’1″ height makes it almost impossible to try out any viola, but a 15″ model. So I had put violas mostly out of my mind. Like many viola jokers, I was initially ignorant in my approach to the instrument. My mother, an avid amateur violin player, owned a “Bratsche”, which only saw the outside of the case, when no one else would take it on, implying that it was a slog. We called the instrument “the crocodile”, which actually points to a certain fascination rather than characterizing a civil servant performance.

the “crocodile” head

Once I found quartet partners and played in a community orchestra, I started to appreciate the quality and power of the viola.A pivot experience was Walter Babiak’s coaching at the Kincardine Summer Music Festival chamber music course. He commanded a moderately talented quartet from the viola and made them jive. ( W. Babiak, musician and pedagogue co-created the composer story series for children: ” Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, Bach comes to call, Beethoven lives upstairs…” ).

A post card from violist, viola experimenter and artist Gerry Stanick

So who can resist the allure of the androgynous voice in the long run? Around 1990 I made my second viola by scaling down a Jacob Stainer outline and pairing it with an entirely different long sound hole and scroll. Apart from a viola made at school and one experimental instrument from treated wood ( swan head), this has been my model ever since.

Sibylle Ruppert viola templates

I have been exploring many different violin and cello models, but rely on this basic outline and consistent materials for violas: The backs, Canadian red maple slab paired with European Alpine spruce for the top. The body length is 16″ ( 408mm) with a string length of 14 3/8th ( 366mm). The arching is influenced by whatever violin or cello I have made before. I allow myself the luxury of making without agonizing. The prospective player is on my mind and I honour the materials as precious.

Sibylle Ruppert viola with Canadian soft maple
slab back

In a short 2021 break from pandemic islolation, I made a tour to Hamilton and Kitchener Ontario to hear Katie Schlaikjer solo in concert, and visit with musicians and their spouses. It was invigorating to experience their undaunted creativity. I reconnected with Elspeth Thomson, assistant viola principal with the Hamilton Symphony. She is great company and stabilized the core of the Georgian Bay Symphony for years with her viola magic until she could no longer coordinate the long treck to Owen Sound and juggle opportunities close to home. At Elspeth’s I met also Caitlin Boyle of the Isabel Quartet. She took my new viola on an outing to the Toronto Sinfonia and presented me with some lovely sound profiles: intro to Bartok Concerto and Bach Gigue

Filed Under: viola

May 28, 2021 by Sibylle Ruppert

Flattening the curve with David Tecchler

In late March 2020 we returned from a long visit to the Yukon expecting workshop life to start full tilt. Instead the pandemic initially held off repairs and service work and allowed me to catch up and finish instruments, to clean up and dig through archives.

When in late  spring I received an inquiry about a cello, I was ready for a new project to focus my attention. Together with the cellist I discussed the possible models. It turned out that I had an opportunity to go to the outside of the spectrum and make a large/ long  instrument.

 After much comparison, I mapped out a 1740 Montagnana against a  Tecchler outline and opted for the latter :David Tecchler Rome 1725.

Tecchler /Montagnana

 My husband Greg had copied this outline more than 30 years ago, when working at Hieronymus Köstler’s shop in Stuttgart. 

I was intrigued by the position of the sound holes in the beautiful long C bout and pleased with the resulting stop length. Rome, a centre of string manufacture at the time produced mostly bigger cellos, while the Northern Italian cellos were trending down in string length. But this particular 1725 outline with a string length of only 405mm keeps within the range for modern string manufacturing.

Denis Brott with 1706 Tecchler cello

At the time the only Tecchler cello I knew about was played by Denis Brott,  a magnificent 1706 example with a long stop and many characteristic features. Denis Brott initiated the Musical Instrument Bank of the Council for the Arts Canada in the 1980s and was granted lifetime use of this favourite cello.

Just then I learned that Denis Brott was caught badly in the early wave of Covid infections while travelling in Europe. It was not the time to approach him.  With herculean effort Denis made a recovery and he kindly responded to my query for photos in late August.

  I had no illusions of copying the style of the scroll. For all I knew the 1701 head I looked at to draw my template might have been by another maker. I simply didn’t like the typical extra turn in the volute very much. On top of that, I had chosen a neck block of generous width and was not going to narrow it across the “eyes”. If ever I have the opportunity to study  Tecchler’s hand, who knows -it is an interesting proposition to me now. 

The process of bending the rib structure and determining the outline, rough arching the plates and shaping the head kept me busy while rooting for more information on the arching.

flexible mould mounted on outline drawing

 For the practical aspect of handling a lighter rib structure I used a flexible mould for the first time and bent on the mounted drawing, leaving rib heights between 118mm to 122mm. Those heights were suggested by luthier friend Philip Reisacher and were ample to allow for later trimming depending on arching heights. 

Again I ignored Tecchler’s feature of joining the ribs without chamfering the C rib ( a Germanic construction characteristic), mostly out of fear it would look awkward without practise. 

Meanwhile I had prepared the set of wood, before deciding on the model  My deeply wide flamed maple though great quality, wasn’t particularly close to the “oppio” maple used by Tecchler. His backs were often joined as a mock single back with the flame going across one way instead of book matched.

1706 Brott -Turner Tecchler, photo Jean Fitzgerald

The more I searched for photos of Tecchler cellos, I was struck by a characteristic A shape of the body outline and bold sound holes at the margins of the plate and width of breast in excess of 110mm. My main challenge and my fascination would be to shape the top arching around sound holes set close to the outside.  All I had was the outline with position and shape of the ff holes. I needed to understand the essence of the architecture.

Few Tecchler cellos are not cut, especially in the top bout, which to some extend emphasizes the “A” shape I am attracted to . Christophe Landon, who has dealt with many Tecchler cellos, recently set up a rare uncut 1705 T. cello for modern practise (preserving the baroque neck separately), but leaving the original outline untouched. He tells me the instrument is 79cm long.

photo courtesy of Christophe Landon, NY Rare Violins

 Phillip Kass dug up this following photo, which was particularly fascinating. The wide set sound holes almost slant back. Professional portraits of instruments omit reflections, while this photo shows what I was after: the sculpting of the arch.

Cellist Denise Djokic pointed me to the two Tecchler cellos in Rochester NY . Steven Doane plays a 1704 Tecchler. His student and now fellow prof  Guy Johnson kindly send me a series of arching perspectives of his 1714 instrument. His artist picture on the cobble stones in Rome in front of the Tecchler workshop joined my gallery above the workbench during the year. 

Roma, 16 10 2016 Guy Johnston and Prince Jonathan Pamphilj look forward to welcoming you to Rome for this exciting weekend ©Musacchio & Ianniello

Help in form of some measurements as well as chats came from Jimmy Dugdale of Domenico-Dugdale luthiers, who look after the Rochester Tecchler cellos.

detail of 1707 Tecchler cello, played by Steven Doane, serviced by Jimmy Dugdale

 I favour a wide purfling and tried to imitate a 1.8-2mm purfling strip out of a wide beach centre and stained maple. 

While I rough arched the plates and defined the outline, I had to mull over the warnings connected with Germanic arches. “ Don’t leave the breast too wide, it will mute the inner strings”; Or: I am copying Tecchler, but will use a more “ modern” arching. Of all the features to imitate, I was convinced that the genius of this maker lies with the arching. I did not want to let go of it.

Everything moved online. I was able to  watch Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy playing a 1704 Tecchler cello on loan from Canimex at the virtual Kingston cello competition in 2020,  Steven Doane giving online classes featuring the 1707 cello’s face more than his own, and excerpts of Guy Johnson’s 2014 Tecchler celebration project.

sculpting of 1714 cello, courtesy of Guy Johnson

Hieronymus Köstler didn’t have any measurements of the 1725 Tecchler , but another was in their care in 2020. So I peppered the workshop with a slate of measurement requests, from arching heights, edges to possible gouge size for the channel, considering arching templates even. I knew full well that measurements are sometimes a matter of interpretation and a time consuming endeavour.

Soon after- in late June, I received a reply, that a parcel is on its way and it weighed 35kg: Plaster casts- a treasure worth waiting for! Whether pandemic or weight, the parcel seemed untraceable for weeks. Finally in late September a very special delivery arrived.

Imitating the back arch didn’t give me any trouble though the Tecchler cello in Stuttgart had a longer top bout and therefore different proportions.

It was a pleasure to delve into the channel having the real thing right next to me. Since on the plaster cast the edge had sunk in, I had to guesstimate the arching height, but I was relieved to find, that there was flow and tension to the cross curves and long arches, nothing like the boxy “Germanic” arching templates I had seen.

The belly arch however was a challenge to my own practise. On photos the centre portion looks rather flat and I was relieved to find that again the plaster cast showed a resilient arching. My task was to integrate the extreme stretch between the sound holes and to understand the subtleties in the architecture of the arch. 

 My 1725 outline too measured a distance of 116mm between the top holes.  

 I wanted to be careful not to create a high plateau, that responds wonderfully originally, but could be prone to sinking.  In practise I have dealt with sound posts of a reverse slant -almost impossible to adjust or get the right tension, sometimes loved and played by professionals with access to frequent adjustments. The Joseph Hill I reimagined earlier is another classic cello, where the deep cut into the C bout and the abrupt recurve concept works. The arch as a whole stands up to the pressures.

 I managed “to flatten the curve” of the centre cross arch  and draw the sound holes proudly off to the margins.

What threw me was the shape near the lower sound hole lobes high up on the arch, triangular like a sting ray. Even with the plaster casts right next to me, my inclination overtook my intention to dare and follow. Before I knew it, the cross arch below the bottom corner became more barrel shaped, the sound holes wandered in somewhat. Ultimately I reckon the top arching ended up both higher and rounder than any Tecchler original.

plaster cast of 1734 Tecchler cello with a broad flat cross curve below the bottom of sound holes

I have seldom enjoyed carving out cello plates as much. Not only were the plates extremely responsive, the nodal points were close enough to the edge, that I could reach them with my small hands.  Again I graduated the top as well as the back in an A pattern. John Newton made me aware of Jeff Loen’s collection of thickness graduation maps, which highlighted typical schemata.

Once the body was assembled it was certainly the hugest I ever made.  I even came down to the shop one night to check out, if it fitted into a standard case. With the varnish drying fast, I soon strung it up and regained my confidence. Not a monster, but a great presence.

While tanning takes a bit more patience in the winter, varnishing without sticky humidity all around is a treat. I do know to stay away from red or orange to the very end, but with encouragement was daring and dipped deep into the orange pigment. You see how little left over varnish throws a glow with an antique instrument, but originally they would have had the swagger of colour.

1714 Tecchler cello courtesy of Guy Johnson, only traces of orange varnish are left

I did have to ask myself, why make a Tecchler especially without access to an original? Or why not take up all the features I did know about ? I had heard a few prominent cellists swooning over Tecchler cellos, yet hadn’t come across a modern copy. This tension set up the curiosity. The original features radiated confidence and some immedeate recognizability.

David Tecchler was successful and renown even in his own lifetime. He was born near Füssen, a centre of instrument building North of the Alps since the Renaissance and his style is definitely influenced by the region. We can not pin down all the formative steps for this luthier travellingthrough Italy, but when he arrived in Rome in his 30ies, Tecchler was a confident and independent maker. The Rome of the early 18th century was a cultural magnet attracting artists, painters and  architects comparable to today’s New York. The Spanish steps for example were built in 1725, the year of “my” outline.

Sibylle Ruppert on a theme of David Tecchler 2020

The pandemic seemed to lock everyone in place, which ironically enabled me to better reach out to musicians, fellow makers, including people I hadn’t met, while hunting for the third dimension.

I am intrigued with this cello maker. Once it is possible to travel again, it would be a worthwhile voyage to explore the cellos I learned about within my geographical reach. To see, turn, photograph, hear measure perhaps even play one or the other of these expressive instruments.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Tecchler Cello

May 19, 2020 by Sibylle Ruppert

Varnish

Varnish has been deemed the holy grail of violin making.

I am writing this recollection of my approach and practise as much for my own benefit as for a customer, who might want to look behind the scenes. For most luthiers there is never an end to refining and revising “their”varnishing process.

So many paradoxical features are desired in varnish, which confuse and disorient the novice: We dislike a uniform surface without texture, but neither to we want a blotchy and inconsistent varnishing job. We love a silky shine, but not a plastic like gloss. We require transparency to the wood, but not an anemic colour.  The ideal colour is not brown, but please neither fire engine red. In fact we want many colours all at once. The surface character should neither be a hard and heavy carapace, nor can it be soft and fragile …. 

 Varnish carries the myth of forgotten secrets. Undoubtedly the look reflects the maker’s practise and artistic control.  

It is interesting how varnish emphasizes rather than hides craftsmanship. Faint tool marks show up sometimes in the varnishing, and if they show a fluid process, add to the beauty. Most makers finish the white wood whetting the grain and using scrapers and horsetail to cut the raised grain, rather than sandpaper, which tears the fibres.

Modern eyes dislike the look of red varnish on white wood. Red or orange feel brash on new wood and cold to us. Ironically the old masters might not have preferred the slowly yellowing background and instead liked the intense, clear new colour coating.

top tanned with spark gap vs freshly finished plate

The aesthetics of the background are as important as the varnish . We need to achieve the tanning as well as a sealer ground coat keep the coloured varnish from seeping into the wood and staining it.

tanned and sealed spruce showing grain and other wood features

The “spark gap” is very effective for tanning, works best in a damp, warm atmosphere, but needs a guarded set up to be safe.

Koen Padding’s long years of research on classic instrument coatings resulted in varnishes and ground treatments, such as the “Imprematura Dorata”solution, sold under the “Magister” label.

It was a precious tincture widely used, alas no longer here for us. It required magically little time in UV light to achieve a golden ground.

Friends and fellow luthiers of Koen Padding compiled this book, including Koen’s articles and recalled conversations on violin varnish. A look around Koen’s workshop reveals research in progress, workstations and features the materials Koen worked with.

The chemical stains Koen likely employed to produce the “Imprematura Dorata” don’t cause the dreaded negative stain on spruce. Time and experiments with combinations of said chemicals lead to a workable solution, not in my case equal to the Magister product however.

Chrapiewicz ground, a saponified linseed oil/potassium silicate emulsion fulfills both the tanning and the ground coat requirements, but like many good things requires weeks of drying and darkening time. In my experience the emulsion does not store.

I have used gesso grounds, ( this with the idea of case hardening the shell), varnish pastes with kaolin, or simple clear resin coats to seal the tanned wood. The commercial “Liquin” does the sealing for my workshop series violins.

spruce tree “bleeding” resin to seal a wound

Varnish finally is the resinous top layer, usually build up in several applications. It consists of a resin dissolved in drying oil and or solvent. It’s function is to show off the instrument as well as protecting it from moisture and sweat. Pigments – or in the case of spirit varnish – tinctures are added for colouration.

Varnish does have a dampening and melding effect on the tone- beneficial to a point, but you don’t want a straight jacket.

Pine resin, Sandarac, Mastic, Elemi, Aloe, Copal, Venetian turpentine, various Shellacs, Benzoe, gums, colouring agents, a string of chemicals, some relatively inert, others reactive- even nefarious flooded our varnishing cabinets. There were too many materials to come to terms with.

At the Welsh School of Violin Making we learned to cook “Fulton’s”, a polymerized Venetian turpentine (larch resin) varnish. It was a good coating, perhaps a little anemic without pigments and quite glossy.

Students inclined to experimentation heard about adding ferric chloride to manipulate the colour towards a nice fox fur orange. This looked beautiful initially, but deteriorated with an unsightly craquelure over the years

Just for the record :this instrument’s sound is superior. Moreover a few years ago we met a similar looking instrument made by Joseph Kun, the Ottawa luthier who designed the Kun shoulder rest. Upon Joseph’s request, Greg had recommended this treatment. Joseph K. ‘s violin sounds equally convincing and is priced by the player, but we don’t advocate adding ferric chloride to varnish anymore.

We had other bad experiences, for example with colophony ( spruce resin varnishes) turning grass green. This might have been a reaction between pigments and the acidity of the varnish. Our Michelman’s colophony varnish darkened and rolled off. Again this could have been entirely due to a faulty procedure and application rather than the actual recipes, but we did become somewhat discouraged.

l.to r.: Sandarac, Mastic, Kusmi Shellac, FF Colophony, raw lac,
and pieces of amber

We needed method, consistency and fewer ingredients. The classic varnish probably came from the apothecary and we to needed an experienced alchemist.

In around 1988 we bought Gaery Baese’s book “Classic Italian violin Varnish”, an extensive ,organized and well presented research into the dizzying array of classic recipe sources and historic references. It is a pleasurable book to own with colour plates, material portraits and a comprehensive list of relevant historical sources. Baese deals with provenance of ingredients, terminology, trade history, production and application of varnish.

cooking and filtering amber varnish

We started to boil varnish using sun thickened linseed oil, fused amber ( instead of Greek pitch) and mastic according to a recipe from the Marciana manuscript, a 16th century collection featured in G.Baese’s book.

The expensive fossil amber was probably less widely used than Aleppo pine ( Greek pitch), larch resin, Sandarac and other recent resins, but we were attracted to the stability and inherent darkness the resulting varnish.

amber pieces and amber varnish on glass plate , fused amber cake to left

According to need we moderated the “cut ” (proportion of oil) depending on wether the varnish was to be used as a first or last coat. We reduced the mastic content, as it seemed soft and took imprints. However it would be more appropriate to call Mastic, the exudation from the pistachio bush, a plasticizer. It was used since antiquity for mouth hygiene as a chewing gum. We also started using bubbled and boiled Walnut oil for the top coat as it dries with a matter silkier surface.

The somewhat disagreeable part of the varnish production is the fusing of the amber as the fossil resin would not otherwise dissolve in the boiling oil. This operation takes up to 3 hours heating at a temperature between 250C and 300C while releasing toxic fumes. ( succinic acid).

We have to restock our “amber cake “supply about every 5 years using amber dust left over from the jewellery industry. For many years we had no immediate neighbours. Now with only one wild overgrown lot left to the South, we have to be considerate with timing and wind direction.

Fusing amber is usually done in Erlenmeyer flask.Here the attempt to re-cook a failed lot.

You can imagine the disappointment when we discovered that a shipment of amber dust was no longer pure. Was it adulterated with plastic as amber had become more and more popular? The contamination resulted in an unusable fused amber. Now we use amber fragments too small for jewelry and crush them in a mortar , or place them into a bag and smash them with a hammer before fusing.

clean and contaminated amber cake

We also prepare a good quantity of sun thickened walnut and linseed oil to have on hand. This will be boiled and combined with the now easily crushed fused resin and carefully heated until the “firm pill”, the polymerized stage is reached. The original recipe contains no thinner and needs to be filtered while warm.

cooking Ted N varnish

Left without amber cakes for a season in 2017 we discovered TedN.’s oil varnish suggestion on Maestronet. It is made from pulverized FF grade pine resin combined with umber earth colour in linseed oil. Note the different set up . A baby jar containing the boiled linseed oil, crushed resin and umber earth is set into a tin filled with sand on the hot plate. The mixture reaches 300C within 30 minutes and foams strongly before reaching the firm pill stage. The relatively short and less energy intensive process results in a dark, pliable, stable varnish. Thank you Ted N!

2017 cello

I understand and respect other luthier’s fascination with antiquing. The various textures and colour contrasts add interest. The best copyists are starting with a perfectly evenly applied varnish and put on decades of wear via imagination and many risky operations.

However the aspect of rushing time in our inflationary epoch keeps me from pursuing the antiquing practice. My aim is for the instrument to look warm, alive and age well. The “tampon” method, i.e. using the hand to apply the pigmented layer, produces a flow of accumulation intensity, which I hope lends a lively shimmer to the surface.

Giambattista Rogeri model made in 1990

I have played my first Canadian cello now for 30 years. The varnish composition comprises amber and mastic at a 1:1 ratio. There are textile imprints from hot summer days in an extra padded cloth case and I need to stay on top of the rosin accumulation on the belly. Amazingly I am able to rub out the cloth imprints by means of a cloth and elbow grease without loosing the colour. ( Not to be done on a sticky, hot summer day). The initial chestnut brown colour ( purple alizarin lake) is mostly intact. There is a bit of wear on the high contact areas and a tiny bit of natural craquelure on the base of the scroll . Mastic also convinces with a silky soft sheen.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

October 31, 2019 by Sibylle Ruppert

the sweetwater baroque violin- a collaboration

Ever since 2003 ,the first Sweetwater Music Festival held annually in Leith /Owen Sound , artistic director Mark Fewer gave a nod to regional violin makers by including a showcase for new string instruments.

When it became clear in 2018, that Mark Fewer was taking on the Stratford Music Festival and would have to hand over AD for Sweetwater , we five “original” luthiers decided to collaborate on a baroque violin as a Thank You to Mark and a teaser for all our musical curiosity.

Greg Walke,Sibylle Ruppert and David Prentice
Marc Schnurr and John Newton

But what is a baroque violin? In the second half of 17th century the violin was the most popular instrument in Europe. However measurements or even construction methods varied. While the most active centres traded and influenced each other, different cities all used their own calibrations. Just as an example in my own home town of Speyer, the locally agreed on foot measures approx 11inches. It is marked on the “Altpörtel”, the entrance gate to the town.

mediaval entrance gate to the town of Speyer
28.9mm was used as a foot measure here from 1770 to early 19th century

None of us luthiers were likely going to be commissioned with a baroque violin, so to share the work was very enticing.  We wanted to follow a 17th century aesthetic and technology, hear it together and possibly meet it again down the road. We set some parameters:

We would have a wide fingerboard -not just a veneered facade on a modern neck; baroque style bridge and fully gut strings; slight bass bar and sound post; high arches with deep fluting early 17th century fashion;  We abandoned the idea of going back to the earliest- almost renaissance violins. The varnish would be “non antiqued” -aging by play and wear.

neck attachment without dove tail

The neck would have to be nailed with square nails, Mark Schnurr had a black smith friend in mind ,since we didn’t want to pull them out of old buildings.

Graeme Sheffield ironwood anvil.webs.com

By October 2018 we had settled on the model: Everyone owned a poster of the elegant 1649 Alard  by Nicolo Amati. John Newton, who probably has the most affinity for- and practise with baroque music mused about string length and body size, when the suggestion arose of scaling up slightly  110% ( from 347mm length to 350mm).

There is a bit of fear connected with creating an instrument that will not project enough in modern performance ,especially when played in spaces, that are not supportive.

As for the material we all had experience with and trust in Canadian wood, which ties the instrument to our Grey/Bruce County environment. We chose maple with a density of.58 out of Lou Currah’s loft for neck , ribs, back as well as fingerboard – tailpiece borders and a piece of Engelman spruce for the top. All in all Canadian material.

back joint requiring 3mm wing

In November we met at David Prentice’s shop in Flesherton. His uncluttered space allows for generously sized pieces of Suzette’s Godin’s amazing artwork to live and be shared. He showed us one of his many tricks on the cell, using it to project an image of a sound hole to resize and draw. We distributed the wood and figured out a possible sequence. Since David was leaving for Mexico, or possibly first for a trip to Italy at year’s end, he was tasked with scaling up the model and providing the mould and rib structure before departure.

December26: “we have a rib structure”
note the through rib at top to strengthen the neck to block attachment

Greg and myself were send on our way with the rib structure to cut out belly and back in early January. Greg worked the back, I got to sculpt the beautiful Engelman spruce donated by John Newton.. At this point we established the arching heights,17.8mm for belly and 17mm for the back. We pre cut the yet un shaped edges with 3mm overhang and 4.25 -4.5mm height to give Mark Schnurr the room needed for an even and graceful purfling, fluting and  the final edge work.

back and belly ready for definition

While edge work would often have been done after assembly of the instrument we deviated from the sequence: Transporting the neck and rib structure without mould between the workshops would have been hazardous. Not only was  Mark was a bit reluctant cutting the  purfling last on a cooperative instrument, I had never yet finished thicknessing and sound holes without the fluting established.

It was Marks turn to visit and pick up in Paisley, check out our tools and other work in progress in January.

Ruppert Walke workshop Paisley Ontario

John Newton, who had moved from Keady in Bruce County back to Toronto, took on the challenge of carving the scroll and providing the neck complex including the  decorated fingerboard ready to nail according to baroque practice. John ended up fabricating the attractive matching tail piece as well.

John made the fingerboard with ebony veneer on soft wood core, bordered with maple from the same lot as the head and neck

Many mails had to fly between us to establish neck length. Eventually we agreed on 127- 3mm shorter than modern standard, fingerboard /nut width (ca 27mm- 3-4 mm wider than modern) and neck angle as the neck would be nailed from inside to the finished rib structure through the top block , while the wedge of the fb could lift the neck angle. We ended up with a modern elevation of  27mm, a decision supported by Roger Hargrave’s excellent article ”period of adjustment”. Both John and David were travelling in Italy at the time. John went to see the Stradivari Medici tenor viola in it’s original fit up in Florence.

this is the neck of a brothers Amati tenor

In early March Greg and I picked up the plates at Mark’s workshop, South of Flesherton. Mark had delineated the margins with an impeccably flowing final overhang, purfling and  fluting. It is always stimulating to  experience a different approach in an active workshop . We could lay a bow on Mark’s VSA prizewinning  Strad copy, put our heads together and enjoyed a wintery hike at Hoggs falls.

From here the work flowed easily. Carving the arch, sound holes and graduating is a luthier’s favourite process.

We were exchanging notes and showing stages . Mark suggested for me to nudge the sound holes “North “, which I managed, barely. The collaboration felt joyous all along. The instrument bears our marks with a lot of inspiration from Nicolo. Stop length, by the way, ended up at194mm.

Additionally I had lovely material on my hands and easily achieved a low weight with strong  stiffness: Finished top at a weight of 63g, with bass bar at 12 mm Mode 5 was 347 Hz F# and Mode 2 175Hz .  The others had joked that I needn’t fit a bar, just bend a strip of spruce perpendicular to grain. Well- I let Mark Schnurr fiddle with reducing the bar to his likes: Ultimately the bar at 7.5 mm height  M5 had gone to 305Hz with an M2of 165 Hz . The belly now weighed 61g.

Greg finished the back at 101.5 g the M5 peak lay around 378Hz, with M2 at 200Hz.

Greg Walke with back plate

Mark Schnurr , who initiated the project took on the assembly of the instrument. He would pull it together not only stylistically by doing the purfling, edge work and varnishing, His job plainly was to make it into a violin, adjust it sound wise, fit it up with baroque bridge ,tail piece and gut strings.

a long way from finished

With the square nails forged Mark had the adventurous task of attaching the neck and generally not buggering it up. ( cockeyed neck not an option)

the Flesherton team came together for this experience

By June the violin had tanned sufficiently and Mark layered on an even amber coloured varnish.

fingerboard and neck were varnished in the 17th century

and then we didn’t hear until on August 22nd a message from Flesherton landed in our mailbox:

“Hey all, Just a heads up. I strung up the Amati today and took it over to David’s for a “test”. Sounds pretty darn good ,and I don’t think I could be happier.Thanks again all. Mark.”

“A great result. It was exciting to hear it. Sounds like a modern fiddle in sheeps clothing. See you all soon. David”

The  Monday  before Sweetwater weekend had us track down possible wooden cases to hand over our gift. An air cushioned modern suspension case was out of the question. Let the violin be subjected to the wear from play and case, though John cringed at the roughness of the antiques.

We opted for a naked wooden trunk and as I moved the violin in the case to demonstrate the necessity for a swaddling cloth, I inflicted its first scar on the back before a label was even installed.

Saturday after the luthier showcase the gift fell into Mark Fewer’s capable hands -a genuine surprise.

John Newton, Mark Schnurr, Mark Fewer,Greg Walke, Sibylle Ruppert and David Prentice

Super gratifying for the makers was the first performance the next day with visiting baroque violinist Adrian Butterfield playing it alongside incoming artistic director Edwin Hudzinga in the Vivaldi Gloria. The violin sparkled in the  Roxy Owen Sound, which is a former cinema and adapted performance space. And so it will find occasion to ring out in the future.

Vivaldi Gloria,Kenneth Slowik conducting University of Toronto Schola Cantorum with Daniel Taylor

Filed Under: Uncategorized

September 29, 2019 by Sibylle Ruppert

Workshop series violins

Spey River maple

In the late 90s we acquired  most of a flamed maple log locally and convinced the wood dealer to cut it radially. Judging from the structure and bark this appears to be a hybrid of acer rubrum and acer nigrum , definitely a soft maple, which grew remarkably homogenous and clean.

strong medullary rays are often found on quarter cut black maple

At first a series of 5 violins with the same model but different surface treatments was created in 2005. By and by I get requests for a violin, that is not out of range for a young player or a player with a young experience -yet appreciation for a hand crafted instrument.

locally owned 2013

While most of my violins are individually conceived, I appreciate the discipline and attraction of staying with consistent parameters: same model and basic measurement, same wood for the body and same ground treatment and varnish. Here I use the templates of a 1848 Joseph Rocca violin, a reliable violin model with good proportions. Apparently Rocca in turn employed the outline of the Harrison Stradivari.

workshop Ruppert series

The  decisions are made and the craftsmanship unfolds fluently. This is the concept of the RUPPERT WORKSHOP series violin, which  is branded inside.

The material for the back, ribs and scroll is the above mentioned log. For the belly I am using Picea Engelmannii from British Columbia. I would like to emphasize that I use both types of wood in my full price violins.     The tanning process is shorter than that for my custom violins. The ground separation layer” liquin” is commercially available in art supply shops. Rather than using our oil varnishes here, the proven touching in varnish of equal parts siam shellac, sandarac and mastics makes a silky durable coating with shorter drying times.

workshop model with hornbeam fittings

This instrument is only available by ordering directly. You are invited to come to the workshop and try the sample violin.You have flexibility with fittings within a budget of $500CAD . Depicted is an all Canadian set up, where I substituted ebony with Hornbeam, the hardest available native wood. The musician will also be able to direct the varnish colour and set up choices such as neck thickness. With a down payment the delivery time is agreed upon in writing .The price is $6,000CAD and retains trade in value of 80% purchasing cost for any Ruppert or Walke instrument.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

January 15, 2017 by Sibylle Ruppert

Another Cello

Of course we dream and then plan our next instrument carefully. A cello in particular represents a substantial investment in time and for me at least the procedures need to fit into the cycle of the year.

For this latest cello I decided to go for a low top arch of no more than 24mm such as Sacconi describes in his pivotal book “I secreti di Stradivari”. I do not have access to a classic Stradivari cello and in spite of using a 1717 Stradivari outline – purportedly off the Amaryllis Fleming Stradivari -I have never seen a Strad cello from this period life.

The Canada Council Instrument Bank owns a gorgeous 1696 Strad cello -the “Bonjour”,which has an impressive 32 mm top arch. However crafting an arch of minimal height yet strong and resilient was to be my challenge .

lower long arch curve, Vuillaume at Sound Post, Toronto

Instead I decided to look at two Vuillaume cellos in Toronto for inspiration. Jean Baptiste Vuillaume was a talented craftsman and the earliest consummate copyist of classical Cremonese instruments, who as a dealer also would have had the originals next to him.

Thanks to the Sound Post and to Roman Borys for letting me spent a couple of hours measuring investigating and photographing their cellos ,incidentally made on the same outline in 1869 and 1868 respectively.

 I focused on the arching curves and the positioning of the sound holes. I admire the sculpting of these lean archings,which might have settled ,but have not distorted or sunken.


the muscular arch of a 1898 Vuillaume

Understanding and assimilating three dimensional curved structures is the aim, but I also took note of some seemingly pedestrian measurements such as edge heights and rib heights. With the help of a Hacklinger gauge I  found the dimensions of the blocks, the thicknesses of the plates near the edges and around the ff ‘s in comparison with the average dimension.

Sibylle Ruppert 2016

With a low top arch I needed to recalibrate, as the ensemble is affected by everything. It is the beauty and the curse of the art.

In many ways the sound responded to my imagination: A velvety sound with an easy even response.The Canadian Red Maple back became the wild card bringing extra depth and darkness.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Viola
  • Flattening the curve with David Tecchler
  • Varnish
  • the sweetwater baroque violin- a collaboration
  • Workshop series violins

Archives

  • February 2022
  • May 2021
  • May 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015

Categories

  • Instrument trials
  • Uncategorized
  • viola