Authentic mid to late 19th Century Fiddle Setup (Civil War era and later)

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop.

Note: Listed price is for the initial deposit, which includes includes gut strings by one of several Master String Makers specializing in gut strings AND special offers on Master Bows . We will contact you about additional required work for the conversion, which is generally in the $200 - $300 range.

We will retro-setup a violin of your choosing to a meticulously authentic mid to late-19th Century Fiddle. As close as you can get the the real thing except in a museum!

Our Experience with Gut-Strung Fiddles

We have many years of experience in the use of old-style pure gut strings on fiddles. Dr. Don Rickert, who used to play fiddle in many Civil War re-enactments in Maryland and Virginia, played on a pure gut-strung fiddle (with a silver-wound g) with an overall 19th Century setup for many years.

A Few Words about Instrument Condition

As with all fiddle retro-setups by Don Rickert Lutherie, the late 18th Century to mid-19th Century Fiddle Setup starts with a structurally sound high-quality fiddle either provided by you or a new instrument purchased from us (see article, Instrument Quality and Condition for Historic Fiddle Setup by Don Rickert Lutherie)

About Mid to Late-19th Century Fiddle Setup

These are fiddles setup in the manner of a Civil War Era fiddle until the end of the 19th Century. As with the earlier era, there was no firm notion of a difference between a violin and a fiddle. In other words, a violin setup would not have differed from a fiddle setup. Review of many photos, paintings and interviews with re-enactors reveals that the instrument hold of the Civil War period had evolved away from a Baroque-type hold to something very close to the way a modern violinist holds his or her instrument, only without a chin rest or shoulder rest.

The most common stringing was gut with a metal wound gut g-string, with pure gut on all 4 strings being common as well. Metal strings were NOT EVER used on Civil War era fiddles or any fiddle until the very end of the 19th Century. They were not invented yet.

Geared Tuning Machines

More likely around 1870 and possibly as early as 1860, geared violin tuning machines were introduced. The geared tuning machine had been around for other instruments for a while. For example, C.F. Martin introduced geared tuners in the 1830s for its guitars.

Pictures of old fiddles with geared tuners and a photo of the geared tuning machines that we use.

Click on an image for a full-size view.

 

Our opinion is that geared tuning machines are “close enough” for period authenticity for Civil War re-enactors and certainly authentic for the 1870s and later. In fact, the first photo above is an actual Civil War officer's fiddle; however, the geared tuners were probably installed later. For Civil War re-enactors, who do what they do outdoors in various weather conditions, geared tuning machines will provide a far more desirable playing : tuning ratio!

Carved Decorations

Incising (scratch carving) of regimental slogans, symbols and other images was not unusual for Civil War fiddles. Actual Civil War era fiddles with incising (scratch carving), such as the instrument in the National Museum of Music and a similar instrument incised by a Civil War re-enactor fiddle owner are pictured below.

 

You may choose to have the period setup on a fine new instrument purchased from us...

OR you may wish to use a vintage fiddle for the conversion

What A Late 18th Century to Mid-19th Century Fiddle Setup Includes:

• Peg hole reaming and new perfectly matching pegs drilled for gut string
  • On our new instruments with a perfect peg fit, only enlargement of the string holes in the pegs is necessary
• Tuning Pegs
  • Traditional Tuning Pegs
    • Peg hole reaming and new perfectly matching pegs drilled for gut strings
      On our new instruments with a perfect peg fit, only enlargement of the string holes in the pegs is necessary
  • Geared Tuning Machines
    • There are some cases where a new instrument is the only way to go, such as making a retro fiddle from the mid-19th Century through early 20th Century with geared tuning machines. This is because the hole spacing for antique-style violin tuning machines is different than a standard peg spacing, requiring permanent modification to the fiddle's peg box.
• Carved Decoration (Incising)
  • As a matter of policy, we will NOT do such carving on a vintage fiddle...only a new one that we make for the purpose. If you do decide to have carvings done on your NEW instrument, they are usually done by Shep Jones, Master Luthier AND Master Wood Carver, who also owns our Fiddarci Lutherie, which makes most of our Octave Violins and some of our historic pochettes, such as the Neil Gow Pochette and Glasgow Pochette.
• New bridge for gut strings
  • For instruments that have been strung with metal strings, the bridge is almost always cut too low for gut strings (or even synthetic strings) and must be replaced.
• Removal of the chin rest
• Replacement of the tail piece if necessary
  • Often, the existing tail piece can be kept.
• Replacement of the existing nylon or metal tail gut with genuine gut
  • Optional…only done if absolute authenticity is necessary. Modern nylon and stainless steel tail guts are far superior to real gut, as they do not stretch and allow adjustments…adjustability is VERY important to the setup of a gut-strung violin or fiddle.
• Removal of the fine-tuners
  • Fine tuners cannot be used with old-style pure gut strings.
• Experimentation with various gauges of strings for the best sound on your instrument
  • It is assumed that, for ALL of our retro-setups, that the player will be using the following tunings: 

Standard: e” a’ d’ g
A Cross-tuning: e” a’ e’ a
G-D Cross-tuning: d’ g’ d’ g
D tuning e” a’ d’ a

Being able to accommodate all of these common tunings used in 18th and 19th Century fiddling without a lot of string breakage calls for e” and a’ strings of a medium-heavy gauge (for tuning lower) and light-medium gauged  d’ and g strings for tuning higher in the A Cross-tuning.

• Installation and break-in of the chosen string set
  • ◦We use only the finest period gut strings by gut strings by one of several Master String Makers specializing in gut strings. The gut strings we use are known for their excellent craftsmanship, intonation, resistance to breakage (this has to do with the string polishing process) and stability…in other words, they stay in tune very well for gut strings.
   Gut strings will NEVER stay in tune as well as modern metal strings; however the strings we use will amaze you with their stability. A really well-made gut string, such as Dlugolecki’s, actually stays in tune pretty well after a break-in period.
• Necessary Sound post adjustments
  • If your sound post needs replacing, a new sound post costs about $75.
• Adjustment of the tail gut to achieve optimal tone and volume from your instrument
  • Adjusting the distance between the tailpiece and bridge is a painstaking process and necessary to achieve optimal sonority from the instrument. To achieve optimal resonance, the distance between where the strings are tied onto the tail piece should be 1/6 of the playing length (for starters). Fine tuning of the tailpiece position (by lengthening or shortening the tail gut) is accomplished by iterative testing until plucking the a’ string between the tailpiece and the bridge is precisely 3 octaves higher than plucking the open e” string. This is why we prefer the use of a modern nylon or stainless steel tail gut, which allow for easier adjustment and re-adjustment once the strings and tail gut are fully broken-in (i.e. stretched as far as they are going to stretch).
  • Yes, this takes time to get right…it is part of what you are paying for when you come to Don Rickert Lutherie for an historic fiddle setup.

The Bow

Except for a Modern Setup, in which case we strongly recommend a high-performance carbon fiber bow, a high-quality period-appropriate wooden bow is the way to go.