Breaking news: New gut string maker of outstanding quality
The ground of our new da spalla cellos is gorgeous!
Hallo, Daniela here!
Back in 2020, during the pandemic times, a Violone player from Japan, Tomoki Sumiya, contacted me to find some help in gut string making. He previously attended the workshop of another client of mine, Kenji Yagi, an expert in parchment history and making, whom I mentored to prepare a practical workshop during which attendants of an early music festival in Haramura could make their own strings. During that workshop, Tomoki Sumiya not only made his first string but also decided he wanted to dive deeper into string making and eventually set up his own business.
So, he took this training with me and started his production of gut strings. The process took years, because it’s not only about learning and settling a working space. There is a lot of research on supplies and raw materials involved, leading to many experiments. Then strings have to be tested, and, as we are dealing with a natural material, when you think everything is well-settled something different happens and you have to research why: it can be anything from a change in the temperature and moisture while making them to a change in the row materials production, maybe a change in their climate conditions during production!
Anyway, after two years, I received a package of strings from him to test! I’m so proud and excited, because they are fantastic: white, solid, strong, very even and quite clearly not polished! They are only smoothened by hand! Their sound is easy even on pianissimo and ready and powerful on fortissimo. And it has a texture, it’s bright but also round and full!
By now he is accepting small orders from his friends and colleagues, but if you are interested, write me a private message and I will share with you his contacts.
Next week I will play a concert using his strings, the two trebles on my Violoncello da Spalla: stay tuned for the recording!
Updates from our workshop
Today we completed the ground of all our three instruments, two da spalla cellos by Daniela and one big cello by Alessandro.
We tested several varnishing ways, products and methods, but now we are sticking to Sofia Vettori’s varnishing approach, because we are pleased with the results we are obtaining. It’s fast, easy, easy to adapt to the quality of the woods and the different characters we want to give to instruments. We prepare everything at home with natural products, and we do not buy ready-to-use varnishes or grounds.
If you are interested, here is the link to her complete spirit varnish course. Yes, this is an affiliate link, which means we will receive a bit of money if you buy it from this link. But we are sharing it because this is what we have done since seven instruments now, we tested, and we are still happy! So, if you decide to buy, we would appreciate if you could check that you do so from this link below.
https://sofia-vettori-violinmaker.teachable.com/?affcode=1115961_umqhp97c
Featured video of the week
Enjoy a beautiful quartett by Telemann, an author who was very close to the cello da spalla
