How it’s made: part 10 - Ff holes!
The ff holes I will show in this issue are in all our ff holes. They are not “a standard” for the Violoncello da Spalla but have been our standard since our third instrument.
Violoncello da Spalla, in the “concentrated” size we use today, was mainly an instrument from Saxony. In this regard, Cremonese-style ff holes were not our first choice; besides, we wanted something more “elonged”. We turned to Brescia, the other Italian town that cradled Lutherie. Brescian instruments are not as polished and refined as Cremonese ones, and even this feature copes well with the Saxonian provenience of the Violoncello da Spalla. So, we introduced these slightly brescian style ff holes.
The almost rounded tip of the flap is an homage to Hoffmann and Saxony.
Featured video:
Below the paywall, I’ll explain my tracing system for placing the ff holes, but before that, let me share a video for those stopping here. This month and this newsletter will be mainly dedicated to making, but we don’t want to leave behind those here for general interest in the instrument and not specifically for making.
Enjoy some good Vivaldi in this new video by Kaga Yutaka: