Telesphore Barbe was one of the finest craftsman making instruments for the great J B Vuilluame in Paris c 1860-70. He boldly states the fact on his labels – (“ex premier ouvier de J B Vuilluame”). Upon leaving the shop of Vuilluame he makes his own beautiful instruments which show his talent, skill and artistry to dramatic effect. Though he also carries with him the legacy of Vuilluame in a fascinating way
– the complete command of purfling /edges /arching…..the delicate details like the fluting around the F holes….the bold Stradivari model….
One other interesting thing you often encounter with French instruments is their neck set. They invariably set the neck lower over the top and angle the neck more steeply to achieve the proper height at the bridge. This puts too much tension down on the top – producing too harsh and bright a sound. In this case I (delicately!) extracted the neck – gluing a foot on the neck stock so that the neck sits higher over the top – and then set it at the correct -a less steep angle – which gives a much warmer sound. When this is finished with the varnish restored its as if nothing ever happened.Its fascinating how the right neck angle (and tension that is put down on the top) produces a very different different sound.
