Don Rickert Musical Instruments

Don Rickert Musician Shop: Your Source for Unique Bowed and Fretted Instruments and Accessories Ranging from Baroque Period to Today’s Cutting Edge

Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments): Your Source for Unique Bowed and Fretted Instruments and Accessories Ranging from Baroque Period to Today’s Cutting Edge Introduction It is quite clear that we are the place to come for the unique stuff…things you just cannot get at either the corner music store, traditional violin shops or the online mega-stores. What are these things that musicians, and the occasional museum, come to us for? Over the 9 years we have been in business, our analysis of search engine “hits” to our websites and online store, corroborated by actuals sales records, indicates that we are best known, in descending order for the following: Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins The world’s finest and more models (to meet different player needs)…5 base models; all customizable! We sell more travel violins than anything else, by a long shot. Yup, real musicians are willing to pay 3 to 5 times as much for a real luthier-built travel violin than for a toy instrument. See the Bowed Instruments (Regular Offerings) > Travel and Backpacker Fiddles at the Don Rickert Musician Shop Octave Violins, Violas and Octave Violas (aka “Chin Cellos”) Best and most innovative. Ours have been played by some of the greatest fiddle innovators in the world. Our instruments are on some CDs by some of the greats, including the musician responsible for the re-birth of the octave violin, Darol Anger (and most recently Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, their “Abundance” CD). For our current offerings,... Read more →

Don Rickert Musician Shop is Unique: Part 1 (Hard to Find Stuff)

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments) is the place to go for unique instruments that are either very hard or even impossible to find anywhere else. Some examples: Travel / Backpacker Violins and Fiddles We make and sell the finest innovative and ergonomically perfect travel/backpacker violins in the world. Several dozen customers a year opt for one of our travel violins, despite the fact that they cost from 3 to 4 times as much as our apparent competitors. 5-String Violins We make and sell one of best 5-string violins that money can buy (note: There ARE some very fine 5-string instruments by competitors). We also sell the very nice new 5-String acoustic-electric Realist violin by David Gage. We also make and sell an incredible 5-string travel violin. Octave Violins and Violas We make the most advanced and best-sounding octave violins and octave violas (aka “chin cellos”). Dr. Rickert has been researching acoustic octave violins for more than 15 years. He has designed a number of such instruments over the past decade, each new one better than the rest. We sell a lot of these. Top recording artists own a number of them. Tertis Wide-Body Violas in all Sizes We are one of the only U.S. based sources of extremely high quality Tertis wide-body violas, in sizes from 15” to 16.5” (note: viola size is designated by the length of the instrument body, from the saddle to the neck joint). These instruments... Read more →

Introducing the New Don Rickert Musician Shop

The Don Rickert Musician Shop is the new online retail face of Don Rickert Musical Instruments, premiere designer and maker of innovative custom and historic musical instruments. Since starting our musical instruments enterprise in 2007, we have dealt primarily in those of the bowed variety (e.g. violins, fiddles and related instruments such as octave fiddles). We have also designed and made a number of fretted instruments along the way: mandolins, parlor guitars, acoustic bass guitars, tenor guitars and the like. We will soon be branching out in a serious way into the world of fretted musical instruments. Look forward to some really interesting mandolins, octave mandolins, mandocellos, parlor guitars, acoustic bass guitars, tenor guitars and the like. They will start showing up soon as R&D instruments in our new Custom Shop. Our business is owned and run by Donald Rickert, Ph.D., IDSA, who has been playing, designing, making and modifying stringed musical instruments of many types for more than 40 years. Dr. Rickert is a Professional Member of the Industrial Designers Society of America (designated IDSA) We started out as a general product research & design firm in 2005, when we were incorporated as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the State of Georgia, USA. The original corporate name, which is still in effect today, is Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC. The two founding Members were Brad Wiederholt and Donald E. Rickert, Ph.D., IDSA. In 2007, Brad left the firm to pursue his high-technology interests. Donald Rickert became sole Owner.... Read more →

The Use of Tuned Porting in Modern Stringed Instruments

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Tuned porting has been a critical aspect of audio system speaker enclosure design for many years. Only recently, has the idea of porting beyond what is provided by the sound holes, been considered in the design of musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments, plucked as well as bowed. With stringed musical instruments, porting refers to strategically placing extra holes (in addition to the sound holes) to work magic with the aperture to air volume ratio of the instrument. Two of these holes are clearly evident in the photo of the new Rickert Travel - Backpacker Violin by Don Rickert Musical Instruments. Porting often involves internal air tunnels which are, through much experimentation, tuned to control the in-flow and out-flow of air in the sound box when the instrument is played, resulting in a much more powerful sound output than previously thought possible.This is analogous to the incredible big sound achieved by tiny speaker systems by Bose and other innovators in the audio equipment field. Creating a porting system for a musical instrument is largely uncharted territory. It requires many iterations of empirical testing. Most people think that the physics of traditional violins is fully understood, by applying the acoustical principles discovered by the likes of physician, psychologist, physicist and philosopher, Hermann von Helmholtz. The fact is, the "Helmholtz Effect" and other scientific discoveries only partially explain how a guitar or traditional violin generate sound, much less how a state-of-the-art ported instrument makes pleasant noise... Read more →

Solving the "how do you hold this thing" problem with historic pochettes

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. We sell an 18th type pochette (pocket fiddle) under the Neil Gow Pochette and Thomas Jefferson Pochette names, depending on the sales venue. This instrument is EXTREMELY popular, especially among our customer/friends in Japan. The original instruments on which our replica is based, as with all historic pochettes, are generally held with some variation of the "on-the-arm" or Baroque hold. Unless one is totally dedicated to Baroque-style playing, this way of holding the instrument gets old pretty quick, especially since one is pretty much limited to playing in 1st and 3rd positions with the Baroque hold (yes, I know that an expert can play in all positions, but how many of us really want to do that?) The majority of folks who buy the Neil Gow Pochette end up using a "transitional hold", much like that depicted in the William Sidney Mount painting, Left and Right. The problem many encounter is when they rest their chin on the instrument, there is nowhere is put that chin other than on the tailpiece, and this mutes the instrument considerably. Well, one of our inventive customers in Japan, Kazuhisa Yoshida, devised a solution, shown in the photo on the left. This mini rest is made by cutting down and shaping a standard over-the-tailpiece chin rest. The cool thing is that I believe that there is an historic basis for this solution. I could swear that I have seen photos of historic instruments with tiny "bridges" over... Read more →

Take-Apart Travel Violin by Don Rickert Design

Sometimes you just need to have a travel violin or backpacker fiddle that can be quickly assembled and disassembled and packed into a small box (15" x 9" x 3" deep). By quickly, we mean less than 5 minutes. Well, here it is, the new Take-Apart Travel Violin by Don Rickert Design. And there is more: this fiddle DOES NOT need to be de-tuned and re-tuned every time it is taken apart and later put back together. The instrument actually sounds very good, considering the removable neck and the various mechanisms not found on a regular violin or fiddle. Click on the image below or its caption to see a slide show of how it works. Don Rickert Take-Apart Travel Violin The photos pretty much speak for themselves, though it should be noted that this instrument stays amazingly close to being in tune after being disassembled and then reassembled. The first prototype of this instrument several years ago was Don Rickert's first experiment with a violin without a sound post, as the sound post staying in place was a vexing problem for an instrument that is repeatedly being taken apart and put back together again. Instead of a sound post, this instrument utilizes a "tone bar" or small bassbar under the treble side of the bridge foot. There is, of course, a full-size bassbar under the G-side bridge foot. If anyone would be interested in purchasing this instrument, it will soon be available at: The Adventurous Muse online store The... Read more →

Video of Dr. Rickert Installing Pure Gut Strings: UPDATE

Yesterday (Saturday, June 11) we shot most of the video of Dr. Rickert of Don Rickert Design installing 18th Century type gut strings (copper wound g string and unwound pure gut d', a' and e' strings) on a an 1780s style pochette. We were also shooting video for a demonstration of the use of basso continuo fiddle accompaniment using our new foot pump bass/chord/drone box (we have not named it yet), a free reed instrument similar to an Indian shruti box that runs on compressed air supplied by a powerful foot bellows rather than the traditional hand bellows of shruti boxes and harmoniums. both videos will be available on YouTube in several days Read more →

Video of Dr. Rickert Installing Pure Gut Strings on a Pochette

On Saturday, June 11, we will be shooting video of Dr. Rickert of Don Rickert Design installing 18th Century type gut strings (copper wound g string and unwound pure gut d', a' and e' strings) on a short bodied (but 4/4 playable scale) pochette. The principles apply to the installation of gut strings on any fiddle. The demonstration will include essential modification to the tailpiece, proper grooving of the nut and the right way to wind pure gut strings on the tuning pegs. If you want to learn to do it right so the strings do not slip on the pegs or break in the peg box or at the nut and tailpiece, you MUST watch this video. As far as keeping the old style strings in tune, especially during the summer months...good luck with that! A reasonable goal is to be able to play at least as much time as you spend tuning. We will post the link when the video is on YouTube. Read more →

Kira and Her Adventurer IId Travel Violin Save the Day at the Abbey in Conques

Before Our Story, A Little Bit About the 1,000 Year-Old Sainte-Foy Abbey Church The Sainte-Foy Abbey (of the Benedictine Order) Church in Conques, France (the Southern part of France) was a popular stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, in what is now Spain. Its construction began sometime in the 1020s and was completed almost a hundred years later in 1120. The original dome later collapsed and was replaced in the 15th century. The main draw for medieval pilgrims at Conques were the remains of Saint Foy, a martyred young woman from the 4th Century. In the late 9th Century, a monk from Conques allegedly stole these relics of Saint Foy from a nearby monastery in order to draw travellers (and...um...wealth) to Conques. You never know what to expect from those Benedictine "wild men" when they cut loose... :-) Note to monastic history novices: the mental image of a Benedictine Monk stealing a corpse is so out of character with the ultra-strict Benedictine stereotype as to be almost humourous. The Benedictines make the Franciscan's look like playboys by comparison. The Abbey Church that was eventually built served a dual purpose: to accommodate the steady traffic of pilgrims, while at the same time serving as place for the community of Benedictine Monks to gather for devotional obligations seven times a day. Owing to its twofold purpose, Sainte-Foy's layout is a hybrid of a prilgrim shrine and an Abbey Church. For the non-monastic town residents, a smaller parish church,... Read more →

A Regular Fiddle with the Innovative Tailpiece-Chin Rest Combo

Introduction As part of Don Rickert Lutherie's search for the perfect chin rest for our backpacker fiddles and travel fiddles, particularly our 2-inch wide Mountaineer Backpacker Fiddle, we found a unique accessory from the innovative Dov Schmidt, which combines the function of the tailpiece AND the chin rest. To our amazement, this Tailpiece-Chinrest Combo works extremely well, with NO noticeable detriment to the sound of an instrument and with excellent ergonomic properties (i.e. it is very comfortable and provides an effortless "hold" on the instrument). In addition to being the answer to our quest for a really usable chin rest for the backpacker and travel violins and fiddles, the Tailpiece-Chinrest Combo also proves ideal for Irish Traditional Fiddlers, who have a long-standing practice of using the tailpiece as a chin rest, as well as many American Old-Time fiddlers. We are now strongly recommending the Tailpiece-Chinrest Combo as an option for buyers of a number of our fiddles and special fiddle setup services, especially: Dublin Pro Fiddle by Don Rickert Lutherie Fiddle Setup for Irish Traditional Music Rickert-Benker Fiddle w Celtic Setup by Don Rickert Lutherie Vintage Fiddle with Celtic Setup by Don Rickert Lutherie Classic Old-Time Pro Fiddle by Don Rickert Lutherie Old-Time Standard Fiddle by Don Rickert Lutherie Authentic Early 20th Century Old-Time Fiddle Setup  For more background, see the following prior articles: Is it a Tailpiece or a Chin Rest? How About BOTH! The Solution to the Chin Rest Problem on Backpacker Violins and Fiddles A Chin... Read more →