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 2 (Every Sale a Consulting Engagement)

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. For Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments), every sale of a premium instrument is a consulting engagement, focused getting the setup exactly right. Part of the purchase of a new violin is customer specification of stringing and accessories appropriate for one of a number of historic periods, ranging from contemporary all the way back to the late 1700s. Consultation with us about correct setup for specific genres (orchestral violin, Old-time, Irish, Scottish, Cajun, etc.) is also included with the purchase of one of our instruments. As far as we know, this is completely unique to our company. Contemporary orchestral violin, as set up by the manufacturer Price: No charge, except for cost of any desired upgrades No changes to the manufacturer's setup, except for minor adjustments, and/or common upgrades, which will generally include a particular string type, special tailpiece and/or tuning pegs (e.g. Wittner FineTune internally-geared pegs) Specialized Fiddle Setups Note about bridge and nut adjustment for non-orchestral (i.e. fiddle) playing: This process is more involved and time consuming than it sounds. With fiddle setup, we are often trying to achieve the sweet spot between a low string height and buzzing that can occur if the strings are set too low. We go through iterations of bridge trimming in approximately 1mm increments. We have done so many setups that we can tell when the point has been reached when one more millimeter will make the strings too low. Contemporary Fiddle Setup... Read more →

Authentic Early 20th Century Old-Time Fiddle Setup

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Note: Listed price is for the initial deposit, which includes includes gut string 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. What does a fiddle properly set up for early 20th Century playing sound like? (YouTube) Troy Parker on a Don Rickert Fiddle and Michael Fox on his "Dulcijo", a kind of diatonic banjo...very cool instrument! 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 Early 20th Century Fiddles The early 20th Century was the Golden Age of what we now call "Roots" or "Old Time" fiddling. By the time the 20th Century rolled around, the idea of a “standard” setup was a thing of the past. The idea... Read more →

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... Read more →

Authentic late 18th Century to Mid-19th Century Fiddle Setup

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. 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 Late 18th Century to Mid-19th Century Fiddle Setup The originals that we replicate were the first “Modern” violins. Many of them, if not most, were conversions from Baroque violins. Conversion from a Baroque to Modern violin involved replacing the Baroque neck with a longer “angled-back” neck, the bridge, bass bar and tail piece. 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... Read more →

Gut Fiddle Strings for Historic Period Retro-Setup

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Note: Listed Price is an average only. The price of the strings, which usually ranges from $85 to $120 is based on the unique string requirements for your instrument. We determine these string requirements during initial setup of your instrument. We use EXTREMELY high-quality strings, depending on the period setup you ask us to replicate. Stringing a fiddle for historic period authenticity can require everything from ALL old-style pure gut strings to all metal strings, and varioius combinations, depending on the peridod being replicated. In general, the following types of strings are used for the general period listed below: 1750 to 1790s Setup: All 4 strings old-style pure gut (no winding on any of the strings) 1790 to 1890s Setups: Old-style pure gut (unwound) with a silver-wound g-string 1890s to 1930 Setup: Silver-wound g-string, varnished gut d' and a' strings and a Jarger Crome Steel e" string, with a single fine-tuner for the e" string Post 1930s Setup: Modern gut strings, which means a wound a', d' and g' with an unwound silvered steel e" string and a single fine-tuner for the e" string Modern Setup: Our preference is D'Addario Helicore Medium; however, we will substitute another string at your request. When using modern wound gut strings (for Post 1930s setup), we prefer the most stable modern gut strings we know of, which are Pirastro Passione. For those desiring a more traditional modern gut string, we can substitute either Pirastro Eudoxa or Pirastro... Read more →

Don Rickert Musical Instruments Does Fiddle Retro-Setup to any Post-Baroque Period

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The violin goes back about 400 years. The Post-Baroque or Modern violin is about 250 years old. Many (actually most) Baroque Violins, such as those made by the well-known masters (Stradivari, Gaurneri, Amati…) were converted to Modern Violins, with their longer, angled-back necks, bridges more like the kind we use today and a post-Baroque tail piece. Most of the older Baroque violins have had their bass bars replaced with all manner of new bass bar designs (bass bar innovations continue to this day). We can set up any high-quality modern violin or fiddle in good condition to authentically replicate any period as far back to the mid-18th Century, which is about the time that the transition from the Baroque Violin to the Modern Violin (the type we use today) was complete. While the violin has not changed in 250 or so years, how it is set up and played has evolved constantly and radically. Why? If you need to ask “why?”, you do not need this. This is only for people who are serious about playing a genre of music from a bygone era on a fiddle accurately set up in the manner of the period. This for serious re-enactors as well as enthusiasts looking to experiment with older musical forms. Bottom Line: If you want to play music any older than the 1930s the way it was really played, accurate period setup is part of the deal. In all cases, an appropriately... Read more →

Why Wittner Fine-Tune Planetary Pegs are a Good Idea

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Many people have cold feet about installing internally-geared tuning pegs on their violins or fiddles. We think that it has to do with the fact that most of us envision a planetary-geared violin peg as heavy and "fake" looking. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are two makers of planetary pegs for violins and fiddles, PEGHEDS™ (also sold under the Knilling brand as "Perfection Pegs") and Wittner Fine-Tune™ Pegs. PEGHEDS™ and Wittner Fine-Tune™ Pegs both make wooden pegs obsolete, except in the case where one is interested in rigorous adherence to historical authenticity on an old instrument. Don Rickert Lutheriehas installed many sets of both brands of planetary tuning pegs on many different types of violins and fiddles, as well as traditional wooded tuning pegs, "Caspari"-type (i.e. variable friction pegs by Grover, Schaller, Gotoh and others) of all variety and antique style guitar-type geared tuners (the ones like miniature bass tuning machines). I will be brazen enough to say that I think we have installed at least one set of EVERY violin tuning peg ever made! The advantage of PEGHEDS™ is that their polycarbonate tuning button can be made to look pretty much like ebony. This is done by sanding and rubbing with steel wool, which is pretty much a necessity, as one can see the mold parting lines on PEGHEDS™ otherwise...a dead giveaway that the buttons are plastic (note: the shafts of PEGHEDS™ are black anodized aluminum and plastic). For... Read more →

Authentic Cases for 19th Century Musical Instruments

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The type of case usually used for fiddles and guitars of the mid-19th century is often called a "coffin" case, owing to its resemblance to a coffin. Coffin cases were sometimes used for banjos as well. Here are some examples of some actual cases for period guitars and a pretty worn out fiddle case. Shown below is a design diagram for the coffin cases that we will be selling. They will be made from 3/8" pine lined with heavy felt and will be available with either an oiled finish or painted black, per common practice. All joints will be super-strong box joints. The cases will sell for about $325 for a guitar case and $220 for a fiddle case. We will also be making heavy duty weather resistant fabric cases for guitars, fiddles, banjos and Irish harps. All cases will be available at the Adventurous Muse Store. Read more →

American Civil War Re-enactor Musicians and Their Instruments

About Re-enacting Recreating every detail of the military aspects of the American Civil War (early to mid 1860s) is more than just a pastime for many thousands of dedicated people known as “Re-enactors.” Re-enactments of encampments and major Civil War battles draw thousands of enthusiastic participants and spectators in U.S. States where the major action occurred, especially North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and to a somewhat lesser degree, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas and West Virginia. Meticulous attention to historical accuracy with respect to even the smallest details of uniforms, tools, personal accessories (such as eyeglass frames), weapons, music and so forth is very much a part of the culture of re-enacting. Don Rickert Design has been a source of period instruments to re-enactors on a limited basis for several years. Our 1860s style cigar box fiddles and whiskey bottle box fiddles, pictured below, are quite popular among period music enthusiasts. Click on thumbnail images for full-size views. I myself have witnessed many Civil War re-enactments and have even participated in a few many years ago. Attention to Musical Detail As with every of aspect of re-enacting, there is great attention given to the music that is played and the songs that are sung. For example, there are “Yankee” songs and tunes and there are “Rebel” songs and tunes, as well as songs that were popular with both sides in the Conflict, such as “Home, Sweet Home” (also quite popular in Japan, as curious... Read more →