Rickert and Ringholz Musical Instruments

Who are you people?

The Fiddle and Bow Store is owned by Don Rickert, Ph.D., IDSA, Guild of American Luthiers. Dr. Rickert is a Professional Member of the Industrial Designers Society of America and teaches part-time in the Industrial Design Program at Georgia Tech. Jonathon Rickert is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC and manages our fiddlers' convention logistics during the summers. We used to work closely with another product design firm in Atlanta, Thing Farm, who did most of our laser cutting work for us. David Ringholz, IDSA, also a member of the GA Tech Industrial Design Facutly was an owner of the now (unfortunately) defunct Thing Farm. Can you guess where the "Ringholz" in our name came from?

We have joined forces in a joint venture with Fiddarci Lutherie, owned by master craftsman and luthier, Shep Jones. Many of our instruments are co-branded with Fiddarci Lutherie...i.e. the label inside the instruments has both of our logos.

You can see some recent videos from our booth at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers' Convention 2008, and other interesting stuff such as Dr. Don playing at a Clydesdale (the BIG Budweiser horses) on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/DoctorFiddle).

Here is a montage with some pictures of us (and lots of other people) in action at various festivals, mostly from the 2007 festival season:

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.

 

 

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.

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.

Magginis Strung as Octave Fiddles

Article to appear on 10/7/08.

New YouTube Clips from Recent Festivals

New YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/DoctorFiddle

We only set up shop at two fiddlers' conventions this year, The Hoppin' John Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention in Silk Hope, NC and the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers' Convention at Athens State University in Athens, AL. Attendance was up at Hoppin' Johns, but it's only the second year of this great festival and there were only several hundred attendees last year.

Attendance (and people wanting to buy anything except food) seemed much lower than prior years. We suspect that at lot of people did not attend due to fear of not being able to get gas for the return trip...turns out that Alabama did not have the gas shortage suffered by Georgia and parts of North Carolina (where we were coming from).

Did not get ANY video from Hoppin John as we were crazy busy selling and setting up instruments for customers. Sales not so good at Tennessee Valley, but we got some GREAT video, with permission to put onto YouTube, of course. See the new videos at http://www.youtube.com/DoctorFiddle. There are more coming within the next few days

Enjoy!

IncrediBow in Full Production and We've Got 'Em

Heidi Wilcox, daughter of IncrediBow inventor, the late Ed Wilcox, is in charge and the innovative IncrediBows are very much back on the scene. We have a bunch coming in a week or so.

Congratulations to Heidi for stepping in after her genius dad's untimely passing. We are with you all the way Heidi!!!

FIVE REALLY GOOD NEWS ITEMS!

1. Wait time on Adventurer Travel Violins now down to about 3 weeks...we have been chipping away at the backlog (the price is still going up to $1,200 w/case) on 9/15
2. Adventurer now available as a 5-string (call or email).
3. We have a HUGE shipment of IncrediBows (see blog article) scheduled for arrival within 10 days...plain carbon fiber finish AND snakewood film finish (it's carbon fiber with a very realistic highly-figured snakewood film covering the carbon fiber...in other words, it looks like a fine Baroque snakewood bow)
4. We also have a HUGE shipment of Glasser Braided Carbon Fiber bows coming in a week to 10 days.
5. We will have some of the new awesome CodaBow Diamond Series bows (with nickel fittings...cost about the same as the Glasser...also available with silver fittings for more money and gold fittings for a lot more money.)

New Prices

We have always known what the fair price has been for everything we design, make and/or sell. We have experimented with raising and lowering prices in order to figure out how closely the true fair price corresponds to our customers' perception of that magic fair price. What you see now as the prices for all items in our store are the final compromise figures.

Bottom line: don't expect any more lowering of prices anytime soon. If you want something from us, there is nothing to wait for and the backlog is growing. If you can find a lower price on something you want somewhere else, buy it there. I am sure that you can find really low prices on bows, strings, etc. at the old standby online stores. Good luck finding the unique instruments such as our high-end octave violins and wide variety of innovative and traditional pochettes we offer anywhere.

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.