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.
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.
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.
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.
This is our Adventurer Travel Fiddle...it's made to be heard!. See how it stacks up against a really good fiddle based on a Maggini copy and our other pochettes.
Go to the special comparison "Playlist" we put together on YouTube to hear them all.
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.
We know that our instruments are not cheap. One of the reasons is that they are made in the U.S.A. instead of "off-shore" by underpaid workers. We want to prove wrong those who laughed when we said that we are going to stick to our ethics and not exploit workers, here or anywhere else in the world.
If you see something that you want but just can't afford right now, email Don Rickert (drickert@bellsouth.net) about making a partial initial payment and then "rent to buy" with 0% interest over some reasonable period of time (3 to 6 months, for instance). We make no guarantees, as we are not in the credit business; however, we will bend over backwards to make something work for you (we benefit as well). Bottom line: People love our instruments, we are very trustworthy, we are easy to work with, and we need to sell our stuff...so please consider this "win-win" offer.
See our growing selection of baritone (octave) fiddles, pochettes, backpacker and travel violins and fiddles and our new octave violas (also known as Chin Cellos) at www.fiddleandbowstore.com.
Darol Anger has a reference to us on his home page (www.darolanger.com) and some kind words. No gloating; just extreme gratitude! This makes for an extra good day for which to be thankful...enough said.
Continue reading "Some Days are Extra Good!: We're on Darol Anger's Website" »
Note to fiddlers' convention goers--we are interested in good old instruments that are PLAYABLE (have it strung and tuned) and free of cracks...we will accept expertly repaired small cracks. Please don't take it personally if we don't buy your instrument. If you want to sell us a bow, get it re-haired, as it is pretty hard to evaluate a bow with no hair or old hair.
