Michael Purcell

Before going off the an international competition in Romania – dedicated to the memory of Enescu – this beautiful Carl Becker “del Gesu” copy from the 20’s needed a lot of gluing,bridge work and fingerboard adjustment  to make it all  it can be.

Carl Becker Sr is clearly the best American violinmaker of his era – you see more of his instruments in the Midwest than here on the East coast an his instruments command a higher value out there as well….but his work holds up beautifully against the finest work of today …and of the golden eras before him.

This beautiful, robust example belongs to Tom Krainis – cellist of the Daedelus Quartet. This maker’s label is often put in questionable instruments as a catch-all for anything of obscure Italian origin. Though this one  actually appears to be the rare real thing. Its a noble example that has been through quite a bit – with many crack repairs – worm damage in the wood and  being dramatically cut down. Notice the photo of the upper back/button area. You can see the abrupt squareness of the outline where the body length has been reduced.

The arching is bold and suggests greater breadth than the cello now has (which can be felt in the photos of the c-bout areas)

My work is to cut a new bridge  and fit a new endpin and tailpiece along with inspecting and gluing any of the old crack repairs that need attention. This cello is an amazing example of the collaborative efforts of many luthiers (and players/owners) going to great lengths over time to keep it functioning on the great concert stages  in all the different climates that this cello  performs in. In fact the cello ( with the cellist) is leaving soon for an extended tour of Germany

The difficult dry heating season always takes a toll on cellos old & new. This cello belongs to Minzo Kim – a talented young cellist at Peabody. In this case I opened up 2/3’s of the cello top – enough to get the crack clamp inserted to close the crack and it also provides enough room to be able to reinforce the crack with a few cleats  – which are crucial to keeping the crack tight. At this point the top is being glued – then the varnish work to make the crack disappear.

The black marking on the top is the transfer material I use to fit the feet of a new bridge to the arching of the top. This cello – like a number of French cellos tends to a big,bold rather bright sound. It now has a Belgian bridge which tends to exacerbate that sound – I am going to put on a French bridge – which has more wood in it ( More torso with less leg) which will lessen the brightness

Always a treat to have Luigi come by – either to work on his beautiful Antoniazzi violin….or in this case he selected a 3/4 cello for his son. He also can’t resist trying bows while here  and its always interesting to get his feedback. He treats me to his parts from his great Swan Lake solo that he belts out from his Concertmaster chair of the PA Ballet. His son will be studying with Jesus Morales – another great friend. Thats what I like about the string world – its tightly packed with great players that eventually become great friends.

Mile 22 of the Philly Marathon – and putting on a show of feeling great for  friends with cameras. This is the kind of thing makes it such a joy to sit at the bench all day

Putting a fingerboard on a very nice Mougenot violin gives you a chance to see the beautiful inscription written inside. This kind of signature is rather common in French instruments and often rather ornate. This one clearly states that it was made in Mirecourt (the French violinmaking town) in 1919 by Mougenot.

I love the way the writing warmly displays  the care with which this instrument was made.It also reminds me of Bill Moennig’s bold penmanship that seems to be part of a past era.

Its been a while – but its time to make a del Gesu copy and see how I far my eyes and hands have evolved since I made one some years ago. I’ve come up with a form – the rough willow blocks are glued in. Now comes the challenge of pushing the old aside and try to come up with something new – but thats the soul of the artistic journey …and the solution is just like the solution to most things in life. Just work harder…..and longer

The treble C bout of  the spruce top of an older instrument is often quite worn from wayward, exhuberant bowing. Smaller impacts can be filled but eventually the best way to deal with it is to replace the edging with a new piece of similar grain spruce – work it down to perfectly blend with the existing edging and then touch up the varnish to match as if nothing has happened.  In this case the rest of the violin is in pristine condition – so I will make the edging very clean and crisp. if the instrument were heavily worn I would make the edging look more worn so that it seamlessly blends. The c bout repair is much more exacting than repairing the outer edging of the top – in this case the wood needs to be removed all the way to the purfling and the piece fitted exactly to what I have taken away – with absolutely no wiggle room. Its a shame I didn’t take more photos of the progress – but with the many things going on simultaneously, its hard to keep up with photos!

Lorne Munroe  played this beautiful cello of Mateo Gofriller 1702 as principal cello for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic for decades. Gofriller- a contemporary of Stradivari – was the founder of the Venician school of violinmaking and he produced the most sought after cellos the world over. Their powerful arching, bold outline, deep red varnish are just some of the reasons the finest cellists are continually drawn to them. Venice is a fascinating place in that era -right there in the fluid area between Germany/Austria and Italy – with hints of this rich diversity in Mateo Gofriller’s very name.

Mr Munroe tells a colorful tale of him first seeing this remakarble instrument at the Herrmann shop in New York in the early 1950’s but it was beyond his reach. He then found a lesser priced “Gofriller” at the Moennig shop in Phila that after purchasing it was deemed to be Venetian but not Gofriller. With his money refunded he went back to New York only to find the cello now for sale at Jacques Francais’ at a reduced price by an impatient consigner. His teacher, Gregor Piatagorsky, seeing an auspicious sign in the enigmatic medallion branded on the scroll will his initials G & P on it – liked the cello immensely and highly recommended it.

Mr Munroe came to me after admiring work I had done on a student’s cello and he entrusted his cello to me to glue a number of old cracks on the top which had come open – along with extensive bridge and varnish work. It was a treat to work on and live with such a fine instrument