Here are some details about the new Quasi-Mezzo Violins by Don Rickert. The instrument is available in 4-string, 5-string or Octave Violin configurations.
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 706-896-0909; 706-400-1481 (mobile)
What Is It?
I will get in to the specifics, including its name, forthwith. But first, I will tell you what it is. It is violin designed to deliver an especially full-bodied and powerful acoustic sound output. It is inspired by the Mezzo Violin invented by Carleen Hutchins and the groundbreaking experiments by Joseph Curtin. When configured as a 5-string violin, it solves the well-known problem of an acoustically week C-string. It also makes possible an octave violin that can hold its own when played alongside other instruments. In its basic 4-string configuration, it is the dark and sonorous instrument sought by many fiddlers.
A draft rendering of my new Quasi-Mezzo Violin appears to the right. An image of one of my earlier Quasi-Mezzo Violins appears below.
The Need
Many players of violins, especially fiddlers, spend much effort seeking instruments that, while tuned the same (for a fiddler, this is often something different than the standard G3 D4 A4 E5) but with a less shrill,
indeed darker, timbre, with excellent sonority. This is one of the reasons that well-made true Maggini copies are quite popular with Old-Time and some Bluegrass players.
Note: Many players in the Bluegrass genre favor a bright-sounding, even strident, timbre that “cuts through” when soloing.
Maggini pattern violins, being somewhat larger than the “Strad standard” and often high arching, are often louder with a deeper timbre, especially with the right strings. Indeed, Maggini pattern violins often do not fit into a standard violin case due to their larger dimensions. I can tell you this from extensive personal experience, as a player as well as a luthier.
Well made Maggini copies can be great. In fact, I am finishing restoration on a customer’s 125-year-old German Maggini copy that shows great promise. One problem is that really good ones are hard to find. These days, what are sold as Maggini copies are typically just cheap quasi-Strad pattern instruments with double purfling (two rows of purfling rather than just one), which is a distinctive feature of many Maggini instruments.
If you want deep timbre and powerful sonority, I believe that there are better options than even the finest Maggini pattern instruments. First, a small digression on use of electric violins to go deeper, darker and louder.
Why not Just Go Electric?
Many readers will know that one can alter the output tone and loudness of a violin, and most other instruments, by installing a pickup and plugging into an amplification/sound reinforcement system; in other words, an “amp”. Or, in the case of the violin, you can simply use an electric violin, which is designed to be played through an amp.
When going through an amplifier, the use of a plethora of effects processors, collectively known as audio filters, affords altering the “natural” sound of the instrument in a number of ways. With such devices, one can even convert, in real time, the input to an output that is one or more octaves lower or higher. You can alter the sound so much so that the output does not even sound like a violin, or even a single instrument.
I know that I do not even have to say what I am about to say. An electric violin, regardless of how much or how little its output sound is altered, is fundamentally different from an acoustic violin. To describe the differences, from playing it to listening to it is far beyond the scope of this article. Beautiful music can be produced by either an acoustic or electric instrument; however, they are just different. People who are seeking an acoustic instrument with a deep and powerful sonority want just that—an acoustic instrument with a deep and powerful sonority. Many players, including myself, are (or used to be in my case) adept at playing electric as well as acoustic instruments. They just use them to achieve different musical objectives.
The Mezzo Violin
The Mezzo Violin has been around since the 1960s. It is the closest thing to a standard violin in the “New Violin Family” (previously called the “Violin Octet”), the brainchild of the luthier and researcher Carleen Hutchins and her collaborators. See the image to the right. The Mezzo Violin is the largest of the three smaller instruments in the foreground.
The Mezzo Violin has a body typically about the size of a 15 ½” viola, but with a disproportionately short neck, which affords a playable string length the same as a regular violin (i.e., that would be about 13”). It is tuned the same as a regular violin (G3 D4 A4 E5).
While being tuned the same as a conventional violin, a Mezzo Violin has a deeper timbre, and is noticeably louder than most conventional violins, including Stradivarius instruments. One would think that this instrument fits the bill for those seeking a loud and dark sounding instrument. It probably would if you could find them. The instruments of the Violin Octet never did take off in a big way. I remember learning about them in elementary school. They were to revolutionize the modern orchestra. That didn’t happen. While the orchestral community has shown some acceptance to innovation over the centuries, especially the bowed strings; however, more innovations have been killed than those that have been embraced. There is reportedly a supplier who has Mezzo Violins made to specs in China. They are not very expensive and I have heard good reviews. But they are factory-made in China—not seen as a good selling point for many.
I have been intrigued by the idea of the Mezzo Violin for a long time. In fact, I have built a few experimental violas with shortened necks, usually intended as octave violins. At one point, I even experimented with a capo of sorts to achieve a violin-length scale of 13” on an unmodified full-size (16”+) viola. I have been more successful, however, in selling, violas with standard length viola-length necks and fit with special octave strings. The playable scale length is 14.5” or more depending on the viola. Remember that the standard violin has a 13" scale. Most of these have been based on the Tertis pattern, which has a wider middle and lower bout. I usually call them “Tenor Violas”. If you want to hear one in the able hands of a really good fiddler, click here or the video window below.
Because our Tenor Violas I am selling are based on a very nice imported Tertis pattern viola, which is completed and set up in our Georgia, US workshop, we can keep the price down to the $2K to $2.5K range.
The Quasi-Mezzo Violin by Don Rickert
My new design has the same length body as a conventional violin, but the body is a little bit wider. This means that the playing geometry is identical to a regular violin, including the playable scale length of approximately 13”. The ribs, on the other hand, are significantly taller than the 30 mm ribs of a regular violin. The ribs of the basic Quasi-Mezzo Violin and a 5-string version are 37 mm, such as one would find on a larger viola. The Octave Violin configuration has 40 mm ribs. The Quasi-Mezzo has a different plan profile than a Strad-pattern instrument, as well as differently-shaped sound holes. Its shape has less pronounced corners, making a bit viol-like. This shape makes for a slightly less stiff instrument, which is one of the reasons for its deep timbre and powerful sonority.
While I did not set out to copy Joseph Curtin’s Ultra-Lite violin, there is a resemblance, I admit.
The sound holes are a nod to François Chanot’s instruments (mid-19th Century).
I also used these simple “slit” sound holes on the “Cradle of Harmony” Octave Violins I designed more than a decade ago. Those instruments have been played by such notable musicians as Darol Anger, Natalie Haas and Alasdair Fraser.
Availability, Pricing and Such
I have started construction of a Quasi-Mezzo to be set up as an Octave Violin. I have also designed a 5-string version. I am ready to discuss commissions on the Quasi-Mezzo Violin and its 5-string and octave variants right now. The introductory price for any of these will be less than $5,000. I am able to keep the price lower than $10,000 by strategic use of CNC machining in parts of the fabrication process. I will be talking about this in a future article.
The Name
I have tried to avoid the naming confusion often associated with a new instrument. Carleen Hutchins’ Mezzo violin achieved its greater body volume while maintaining a conventional violin scale length by using a proportionately larger body (length, width and rib height) with a disproportionately shorter neck. I believe that the deeper and louder sound is achieved at the expense of ergonomic considerations. The shorter neck necessarily makes notes in higher positions less accessible to the player.
I find the naming of the original Mezzo Violin a bit curious, as “mezzo” means “half” or “middle” in Italian. The name, then seems to imply a half-size violin. Or course, to the contrary, the instrument is larger than a 4/4 violin. Maybe it refers to half a viola, not literally, of course. No matter, the name is well established and I kind of like the sound of it.
So, my instrument has the same goal as the Mezzo Violin, but instead of increasing the body volume with a longer and considerably wider body, the body is the same length as a conventional violin (14”). I have added the prefix "quasi", which translates roughly to "nearly", and we have "Quasi-Mezzo" Violin.
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