What should be the measures of a Violoncello?
Quite a theme!
There are 45cm body 5 stringed Baroque Cellos (“cello piccolo, viola pomposa, viola da spalla”), there is a cello by Antonio & Girolamo Amati of 70.7cm, in my opinion a perfect measure for a modern concert cellist, and we have also other examples of cellos up close to 80cm body.
My impression has always been that not many cellists are totally satisfied with their instrument.
From there I began to study the proportions of these instruments to finally build a cello based on the “Stuart” model by Omobono & Francesco Stradivari.
The Violoncello
Zesler
Today I finished this 5 stringed cello. It seems a bit like a double bass but it is not. It’s an experimental cello. The experiment consists in the attempt to avoid some problems that appear generally in cellos which can be wolf tone, lack of harmonics, some sound with a little bit metallic characteristics, slow response, and so on…these are some problems which may have all measures of cellos. We did some calculations and detected, compared to other instruments such as viola and violin, a difference in the volume of air in the instrument body in relation to the total vibrating surface of the instrument. In the end, the experiment consisted of reducing the volume of air in the harmonic body and slightly increasing the total vibrating surface. The result was good, I am very satisfied.
The sound has more harmonics than common cellos, it has a very strong sound with good projection, more like a viola… the sound seems coming from the ground, it is very connected to the musician and the ground itself. Something that also favors harmonics is that it has a lower projection of the fingerboard, the bridge is lower than normal, similar to a baroque cello. That decreases the pressure on the belly. That’s all, the finishing of the wood is the Italian 18th century type, you can feel all the flames of the wood, you can also feel the unevenness caused by the tool on the top too, the color is like the Stradivari violins, Cremonese
Finally this is a 5-stringed cello.
Available for purchase
With each new instrument, the concept is refined in dialogue with highly experienced musicians. We would be happy to build a new instrument of the same model for you at the shortest possible time.
The Violoncello
Omobono
A friend of mine, a musician who is certainly positively biased towards me, assures that this cello is acoustically superior to the cello Piatti by Stradivari played by Carlos Prieto. What could theoretically be the cause of this? The model of this cello is based on the cello “Stuart” by Francesco and Omobono Stradivari, one of the very few cellos that are built on the same proportions as most famous violins from the heyday of violin making in the 17th and 18th centuries. To a certain extent, these proportions guarantee high acoustic quality. I recorded them in the “Codice del Violino barroco” using the Kochanski violin by Guarneri del Gesu.
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The plates are both of two mirrored pieces: the belly of Italian spruce with red hard grain, the back with very marked flame of Balkan maple, as well as the ribs and the neck.
The top of the fingerboard is made of solid ebony, the core of lightest red cedar and the edges of flamed maple. This reduced the fingerboard to an exact weight, which dampens the sound to the right degree. As with the fingerboard, the edges of the tailpiece are made of flamed maple, which creates the overall aesthetic of a baroque set up.
Purfling is handmade of mexican Katalox and Maple. The current bridge is of “Mexican cherry tree” (Prunus salicifolia), a piece of wood of a more than 100 years old tree.
The varnish is a combination of resins and pigments in alcohol and in turpentine or oil, concluded with French polish with combined resins (Benzoe, Alcamfor, Rosin, Mastix and Turpentine of Venice). The color is a golden cinnamon.
“It was love at first sight—and the minute I played it I knew I had to have it. Matthias Kayssler’s Omobono is the cello of my dreams.”
“…Sigo enamorada”
Magda Bogin
Sorry sold.
With each new instrument, the concept is refined in dialogue with highly experienced musicians. We would be happy to build a new instrument of the same model for you at the shortest possible time.
