Baroque fiddle with sympathetic strings, 2009

9070 IMGP0913 pear H fiddle and bow 720p

Sitka Spruce (top) and Pear (back, sides, neck). Ebony fingerboard and tail piece, with curly maple and mammoth ivory inlay.  Mammoth ivory inlay in the double purfling on back and front. Hand carved ebony tuning pegs, tipped with mammoth ivory. Inlaid ebony and ivory faceted star on head. Four playing strings and six sympathetic strings. Length 61 cm.  Width 21 cm.

Best of Show, and First Prize, Highly Functional, 2012 Made of Wood Show, Alton Mill.

Price: $7500.  Yew bow: $800  Cuban Mahogany case: $2000.

9072 IMGP0919 neck and pegbox H fiddle 720p

This instrument borrows design ideas from Antonio Stradivarius, particularly his Aiglon (1734) and Hellier (1679) violins. Sympathetic strings are common on Baroque viols, and on Norwegian Hardanger and Setesdal fiddles.