Don Rickert Musical Instruments(tm)

The New Adventurer II Travel Violin from Don Rickert Research & Design

This is the instrument that many of our customers have been waiting for.

Over $100,000 of design research, consumer research and technical R&D went into new Adventurer II, scheduled for January 2009 availability.

Click on any of the thumb-nail images below for full-size views.

The Adventurer II is available NOW...call (404) 713-3750 or email (drickert@bellsouth.net) to discuss any of the many top options, including a carbon fiber/Nomex(tm) composite double top.

The Adventurer II is curvy like the Neil Gow Pochette. We invented our own carbon fiber reinforced chin rest system and clamp-on adapter to accommodate Kun-style shoulder rests. We used every known technique and implemented some of our own theories for coaxing power and depth from an instrument that is just over 3 inches wide, including floating plate (a.k.a. free plate) design, a double top, "wrap-around" soundboard, tuned porting (see those tell-tale holes where the neck meets the body) and the latest in bassbar research for starters. 

The photos show the Adventurer II with a very traditional varnish; dark amber ribs and back and lighter amber top. It will be available in a wide variety of finishes, including black fine line Celtic "tattooing" under an amber or clear finish.

We want to make it clear that we DO NOT use a Zaret Patent Bassbar (Dr. Peter Zaret does not have to worry about infringement, from us at least); in fact, we have filed 4 (and counting) U.S. Patents Pending applications of our own. This is not to be jerks, but to protect our investment in design long enough to deliver a number of journal articles and entry in key design competitions. Our goal is to win at least a Bronze medal or equivalent from a major Industrial Design or lutherie competition in 2009.

NEW Model of the Rickert and Jones Travel Master Pochette.

Note that Rickert & Ringholz Musical Instruments is changing its name to Rickert & Jones Musical Instruments. Fiddarci Lutherie is part of the new firm.

Click on any of the thumbnails below for full-size views.

 

 

 

pochette, kit, fiddle, Travel Master Pochette, Rickert, Ringholz, Jones, Fiddarci Lutherie

The "Extreme Pochette Case" and NEW MODEL of Travel Master Pochette

Here are some photos of our "Extreme Pochette Case" and our new version of the Travel Master Pochette. The Extreme Pochette Case works perfectly with the Adventurer Travel Violin and the Niel Gow Pochette (late 18th Century "Kit fiddle" reproduction) as well.

Click on any of the thumbnails below for full-size views.

See separate posting on the NEW Travel Master.

pochette, kit, fiddle, case, Niel Gow, Travel Master Pochette, Adventurer Travel Violin

Our Newest Niel Gow Pochette

This pochette (kit fiddle) is destined to a music store in Japan. Here are some photos of the instrument with the simple period-appropriate leather-laced felt bag. A period-appropriate Spanish cedar case is available (about $400) and highly-recommended. One of our modern Extreme Pochette Cases can also be used if you don't mind your early music enthusiast friends seeing you pull a 1780s instrument out of a titanium-colored ABS case.

Click on any of the thumbnails for full-size views.

 

This instrument is a pochette (i.e. pocket fiddle) of the type built in Scotland in the mid to late 18th century. Unlike early pochettes, these tended to be called "kits" (as in kitten) by the English and the Scots. Their sound is brash and very LOUD for a 3 inch wide instrument. The playable string length is the same as a regular fiddle. The instrument is transitional between Baroque and modern instruments. For instance, the neck is angled back, but not as much as a modern instrument (earlier Baroque instruments had their necks set with no angle-back...the fingerboard was tilted back with a wedge between the neck and fingerboard). This instrument, has a bassbar and a sound-post like a modern instrument.

Did Niel Gow play an instrument like this?: We don't know for sure, but historic records indicate that he was known to have played a kit and the instrument which ours replicates is of the same period during which Gow (one of the originators, the father in the opinion of many, of Scottish Highland style fiddle playing as we know it today). Thomas Jefferson, known for being President of the U.S., definitely played a pochette, very likely of this type owing to its high volume, in the pub sessions he regularly took part in in his later years.

pochette, kit, fiddle, case, Niel Gow, Thomas Jefferson, Baroque, Scottish, Highland

Adventurer Travel Fiddle in the Dolemites

Our customer and friend, Jim Hodges, as kind enough to give his permission to show some really cool images of his Adventurer Travel Fiddle (and new Extreme Pochette Case) taken on his recent adventure in the Dolemites in Northern Italy.

Click on thumbnails for larger views.

Jim Hodges, Adventurer, Travel, Violin, Fiddle, Dolemites, Italy, case, pochette

Photos of a Custom Travel Master Pochette

Click on any thumbnail for a larger image.

This custom version (1 of 1), instead of using shoulder rest adapter wings, has now such adaptor, as is the case with the Neil Gow Pochette, which is intended for Baroque-style playing, although an old school foam shoulder rest (or similar object) can be used, as shown.

Rare Photos of Twin Travel Master Pochettes Together

We finished two Travel Masters on the same day. Here are some photos, showing the shoulder rest "wings" both open and retracted. Our new heavy duty short case is in some of the pictures. Most people who buy our pochettes and travel violins/fiddles opt for a short case and to carry their bow(s) in a separate bow case.

As with most of our instruments, you can see them played and hear them on YouTube (Click to see and hear them now). Of course, you place an order for one by going to www.FiddleandBowStore.com.

As usual clicking on any of the photos below displays a larger view.

Don, fiddle, instrument, kit, master, musical, photos, pochette, Rickert, store, travel, violin

Photos of New Custom Electric Cigar Box Fiddle

When Jason "Reverend Snake" Johnson, a repeat customer who already plays some out there stuff on one of our baritone fiddles, called to see if we could build him a really tricked-out electric cigar box fiddle, we were delighted. As it turns out, this was one difficult thing to build...everything from the extra long neck to turning a regular "Don Thomas" cigar box into a structure that could take the string tension without imploding (lots of carbon fiber and epoxy resin), to the internal active electronics...what look like wooden dowels to the right of the bridge are gain and tone controls.

Man, it was worth it. The fiddle actually sounds really good acoustically, but is a wicked beast, sort of like a fiddle version of Bo Diddley's guitar, when plugged into an amp. We expect to see some YouTube videos of this fiddle soon, but in the mean time, you can see these bad boys of Old Time, The Prodigal String Band on their MySpace site (http://www.myspace.com/theprodigalstringband).

Click on any of the thumbnail images below to see a full-size version.

To learn more about having a custom cigar box fiddle built, go to www.fiddleandbowstore.com.

cigar box fiddle, design, don rickert, music, old time, prodigal string band, punk

Our New William Sidney Mount Octave Violin: Collaboration with Fiddarci Lutherie

See www.YouTube.com/DoctorFiddle to see and hear one of this type of instrument being played. This instrument is deeper and darker than our Type II Octave Violin, owing to the larger soundholes. As with the Type II Octave, a lot of sound comes out of one of these instruments, which, while being quite a bit fatter (39 mm ribs rather than the standard 30 mm ribs on violins), they have the same nut to bridge length (just under 13 inches) as a regular fiddle or violin.

The one shown in the photos hear has a center-mount ebony chinrest...other chinrest options are available. Note the concave back and convex flat plate top. Even though the top and back plates are bent flat plates, they are graduated very closely to the Gaurnerius standard pattern. The soundholes are of the type found on many of William Sidney Mount's instruments. They are a reverse f-hole and very large. The cornerless shape (also called guitar-shaped) was first used by Stradaveri to prove that the corners on violin are superfluous. Mount, Chanot and others adopted the cornerless shape in their instrument designs in the 19th Century.

Click on the thumnail images for a larger view is a separate window.

octave, baritone, violin, fiddle, Don Rickert, Rickert and Ringholz, Fiddarci Lutherie, Shep Jones, Fiddle and Bow Store, William Sidney Mount

Octave Violin Type II with Amber Varnish: Collaboration with Fiddarci Lutherie

See www.YouTube.com/DoctorFiddle to hear see and hear one of this type of instrument being played. Prepare to have your mind blown. A lot of sound comes out of one of these instruments, which, while being quite a bit fatter (39 mm ribs rather than the standard 30 mm ribs on violins), they have the same nut to bridge length (just under 13 inches) as a regular fiddle or violin.

The one shown in the photos hear has a center-mount boxwood chinrest...other chinrest options are available. Note the concave back and convex flat plate top. Even though the top and back plates are bent flat plates, they are graduated very closely to the Gaurnerius standard pattern. The soundholes are of the type found on many Chanot violins. The cornerless shape (also called guitar-shaped) was first used by Stradiveri to prove that the corners on violin are superfluous.

Click on the thumnail images for a larger view is a separate window.

octave, baritone, violin, fiddle, Don Rickert, Rickert and Ringholz, Fiddarci Lutherie, Shep Jones, Fiddle and Bow Store