Don Rickert Musical Instruments

Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins: Baroque Pochettes and Modern Travel Violins at the Don Rickert Musician Shop (Part 2 of 2 Parts)

Attention!: We have more recent articles about Travel Violins. Better still - See the Travel and Backpacker Fiddle category at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins D. Rickert Musical Instruments makes some of the world’s finest Modern Travel Violins (aka Backpacker Fiddles) and more models (6 models currently; one a 5-string). We also make two Pochette models; one a Baroque (early to mid-1700s) and one a Pre-Modern (1780s). All of these instruments are available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. This article is about the modern Travel Violins and Backpacker Fiddles you will find at Don Rickert Musician Shop. You might also want to read Baroque Pochettes and Modern Travel Violins at the Don Rickert Musician Shop (Part 1 of 2 Parts): Pochettes, which is about our pochettes, and some of the lore associated with them. Travel and Backpacker Violins and Fiddles by D. Rickert Musical Instruments These are instruments that look superficially like Barqoue pochettes (pocket fiddles); however, they are full-length violins intended for backpacking and travel. All of our travel and backpacker violins are full 4/4 length instruments with chin rests and shoulder rest adapters. They are very popular among traveling classical violinists as well as adventure-loving fiddlers. Unlike the cheap travel fiddles that cost much less than ours on the market, ours respond to the bow like a full-size instrument and are quite sonorous...be sure to watch the videos below. How Good Can a Travel Violin Sound? Most makers of modern travel violins... Read more →

Baroque Pochettes and Modern Travel Violins at the Don Rickert Musician Shop (Part 1 of 2 Parts): Pochettes

Attention!: We have more recent articles about Travel Violins. Better still - See the Travel and Backpacker Fiddle category at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. If it is Baroque pochettes, violins or violoncellos da spalla you want to see, go to the Baroque Instruments Category at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction D. Rickert Musical Instruments makes some of the world’s finest Modern Travel Violins (aka Backpacker Fiddles) and more models (6 models currently; one a 5-string). We also make two Pochette models; one a Baroque (early to mid-1700s) and one a Pre-Modern (1780s). All of these instruments are available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The article is about the pochettes, and some of the lore associated with them. Baroque Pochettes (the ancestors of modern travel violins) These are the 18th Century instruments whose popularity was primarily from the 1750s through the 1780s. The pochette (French for “pocket”) was a small violin. They are also known as “pocket fiddles” and “kit fiddles” (as kitten, implying small). The pochette’s development was driven in large part by itinerant Dancing Masters (private dance instructors), who preferred very portable violins that could be carried, with its short bow, in a sleeve (called a pocket or “pochette”, as many were French) sewn onto the Dancing Master’s coat. This was the origin of pockets in many items of modern clothing. The Baroque pochette is inspiration for the modern travel violins and fiddles by Don Rickert Musical Instruments. The Historical-Political Events that Gave Rise to the... Read more →