Since the closing of Moennig’s in late 2009 my partner/colleague Dick Donovan and I have been offering Haide instruments to clients all over the spectrum of the string playing world. They are made in China under the guidance and supervision of an American violinmaker
We get them unfinished and I work on them thoroughly inside and out …and lavish all the attention I would on a fine older instrument. Pictured is a very nice Baroque cello that I brought along for the talented cellist from Brooklyn – Ismar Gomes. It was very interesting working with the lower tension aspect of Baroque instruments – lower neck angle – gut strings that come up to pitch at a lesser tension etc that change the needs of the instrument – i.e. the cello needs a smaller bass bar – the top & back plates can be thinner to handle the lesser strain. Also quite evident is the dramatically shorter fingerboard – and I had a great time cutting the Baroque bridge.
I have also helped many players to play on Haide violins- violas and cellos – pictured is the back of a very nice Guad copy violin….handsomely antiqued and a Maggini copy viola in clamps being closed up after working on the interior.
A number of fine players have acquired them – a few that come to mind are;
Jesus Morales of the Dali Quartet has a Montagnana model cello – Jaime Amador who used to be in the San Juan Symphony and is now violist in the Harlem Quatet has 2 violas….a Strad & a Maggini model – Ilmar Gavrilan 1st violinist in the Harlem Quartet has a “del Gesu” model violin….the list goes on
Also, recently I took apart Jeff Solow’s Montagnana cello ( that he acquired from someone else)to do all the work inside and out that I had done to cellos that I had sold to a few of his students – with great results – they really are fine instruments in this price range…..and with the right amount of energy and effort are truly capable of being special.
