This dramatic cello is a mid 19th century Italian instrument by Andrea Postachinni… and is part of the gorgeous sound that is the Philadelphia Orchestra.It is always inspiring to work on such a bold, artistic instrument. It does make me smile though, thinking
of what reaction I might get if I made an instrument with wood such as this and submitted it to a competition….. I have a distinct feeling that I would be ridiculed…. which is a shame in that we are missing some of the essence of the great string instruments of Italy. The sense of daring … the personality … the sense of making a magical,musical instrument….not with sterile competence …but as if its a matter of life and death ….thats what I think is the most moving aspect of Italian instrument making….
Another interesting quirk of this instrument and its maker is the center seam area… you can see from the shadow that the center seam comes up to a rather hard ridge line , rather than the usual rounded arching ( I’ve also seen this on his violins)…I’m not sure if he does this for acoustical reasons ( like added mass changing the tone/sound) or maybe he does it to add more gluing surface to the center seam ( for strength/durability)….or maybe he was just trained this way….another instance of individual personality that fascinates the discriminating admirer….
