Don Rickert Musical Instruments

What Makes the Difference Between Pretty Good and Great Acoustic Stringed Instruments?

This article has been updated. See: What Makes the Difference Between Pretty Good and Great Acoustic Stringed Instruments? (Revised 6-2023) Introduction Before I start, what are the criteria for judging the sound quality of musical instruments? I hope that the reader can agree that this is largely subjective, and often, culturally relative. Take the Great Highland Bagpipe. That there are two kinds of people in the world; those who love the bagpipes and those who hate them has been attributed to many, including, as I recall, Winston Churchill. Many of us love (at least in limited doses) the uillean pipes; however, I have known many Irish, meaning those who actually live in Ireland, who refer to them as “rat-chasers”. Finally, some might describe an octave mandolin as a bouzouki that is too bassy and boomy, or a bouzouki as a thin and weak-sounding octave mandolin. While the criteria for judging the sound quality of a musical instruments are, to some extent, subjective, culturally relative and even arbitrary, there are some sonic attributes of plucked acoustic stringed instruments, which I believe are widely accepted as desirable, such as: Sonority (i.e., “power” or loudness) Balance (i.e., low notes on the low strings are just as loud to the ear as notes on the high strings) Focus (i.e., not “muddy”) Richness in harmonic overtones Sustain (largely a function of overtone richness) It can be demonstrated that high-end instruments and cheap instruments differ greatly with respect to the aforementioned attributes. See Can you hear... Read more →

Your Amplified Violin Not Working with Effects Processors?: The Problem is With Your Pickup! (UPDATE 11-2017)

This is an update of an article published in 2015. Introduction Many violinists with an “amplifier-ready” (i.e. has a pickup) instrument try to use effect processors to extend their sound palate. Effect processors are usually called “guitar effect boxes”, because such devices have historically been marketed to electric guitarists. In recent years, there has been a growing number of effect processors marketed for use with amplified acoustic guitars. Such devices are often referred to by their nickname, “stomp box” (referring to the way they are activated, by stomping on a switch with one’s foot). Many amplifiers come with a selection of common effects built into the amplifier housing. Widespread Mistaken Beliefs Study of a large number of discussion threads on online violin and fiddle special interest websites reveals that there is a lot of misinformation about violins and effect signal processors on the web. Widespread wrong information on the web?...say it ain’t so! Here are a few: Most effect processors do not work with violins. A bowed note is different from a plucked not and, therefore, somehow does not “track” with many effect processors. All guitars, regardless of their pickups, do work with most effect processors. Hopefully, this article can dispel these mistaken beliefs and set you on your way towards using just about any effect signal processor with your violin. Warning: You may have to get another violin. This may be the first time that many of you would have to spend serious money in furtherance of your art.... Read more →

What Is a Master Violin? Not a Simple Answer

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. "Master violin" is one of those phrases that can confuse rather than clarify. There is no international violin grade classification policing organization. The term is actually used very loosely, at best. Hopefully, this brief article is helpful in evaluating claims of "Master Violin" status. What is meant by the descriptor, “Master Violin”? There are at least three meanings, which are summarized below. 1) Expertly restored (by Master restorers) old violins that are well-authenticated as having been made by renowned violin makers of the 17th, 18th or early 19th Centuries Instruments in this category would include those by such makers as Paulo Maggini, Gaspar da Salo, Andrea Amati, Jakob Stainer, Joseph del Gesu Guarneri and, of course, Antonio Stradivari. There are many other Masters who are lesser known to the general public, but whose instruments are masterpieces of great value. The image to the right is a a Strad. The instruments in the “Old Masters” category sell in a wide range, from tens of thousands of dollars to more than $1,000,000. Violins by the “Big Three” (Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri) generally fetch the highest prices. 2) New custom made violins by living violin makers who are widely regarded as Masters The makers include such notable figures as Jonathan Cooper and Joseph Curtin. In fact, Bernd Dimbath, owner of Heinrich Gill is regarded as one of these contemporary Masters. The image to the right is a Joseph Curtin. Violins by these violinmakers typically sell in the... Read more →

The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family http://www.rickertmusicalinstruments.com/2015/08/the-tenor-guitar-an-odd-loner-without-a-real-family.html Prelude This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and its online store, Don Rickert Musician Shop. We hope that you find this article interesting in its own right. That being said, the article is a background piece to an article that proposes a new graduated family of 4 or 5-string steel-strung instruments, tuned in 5ths and intended primarily for melodic playing rather than rhythmic chords. The instruments are designed to be played with a plectrum (pick). The instruments, as well as plans and kits for building them, will be available very soon at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction The tenor guitar is more or less a fluke (i.e. an accident) of musical instrument design history. It is a bit smaller than a 6-string guitar with a slightly shorter playable scale (23” vs. 25”-25.5”). It has four strings tuned in 5ths (just like the violin and mandolin families). Okay, an instrument of the tenor guitar’s size tuned in 5ths would be appropriate for a melody instrument tuned an octave lower than a violin or mandolin; essentially a single course octave mandolin. Note: The Octave Mandolin did not appear until about 40 years after the tenor guitar. Well, it is not. What we call the “Historic Tenor Guitar” is tuned way higher than an instrument of its size should be (rather, it is tuned like a viola: C-G-D-A) and traditionally is NOT... Read more →

Going Electric: Part II of A Different Way of Achieving the Range of an Octave Violin and Octave Viola

Attention!: This is an older post. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments, a highly regarded designer and maker of acoustic purpose-built octave violins and violas, as well as 4-string and 5-string electric violins. All of these instruments are sold via Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction This is the second (see Part I) in a three part series on the topic of using a 4-string or 5-string electric violin (and acoustic instruments with the right kind of pickup installed) together with the necessary effect signal processors to achieve a sound either one or two octaves lower than the violin’s or viola’s actual tuning. Part I of this series introduced the possibility of “going electric.” It also acknowledged the reasons why someone would want to stay with an acoustic solution. Further, Part I also suggested a compromise approach, an acoustic instrument with the right kind of pickup installed. This installment is all about the advantages of the electronic approach to octave synthesis and the challenges associated with a purely acoustic approach, especially with 5-string octave violas. Advantages of a Real Electric Violin (as Opposed to an Acoustic with a Pickup) The best electric violins come in a wide variety of shapes. Most are some variation of a solid body, chambered body or “skeletal”. They all have several things in common: A substantial mass of material (usually wood) directly under the bridge A bridge pickup with greater mass than a regular bridge (almost always... Read more →

A Different Way of Achieving the Range of an Octave Violin and Octave Viola: Part I

Attention!: This is an older post. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments, a highly regarded designer and maker of acoustic purpose-built octave violins and violas, as well as 4-string and 5-string electric violins. All of these instruments are sold via Don Rickert Musician Shop. We have no reason for bias on the topic of acoustic vs. electric instruments, as we make both! Hopefully this lack of bias is reflected in the following article. Introduction This is the first in a three part series on the topic of using a 4-string or 5-string electric violin (and acoustic instruments with the right kind of pickup installed) together with the necessary effect signal processors to achieve a sound either one or two octaves lower than the violin’s or viola’s actual tuning. Our focus here is on achieving lower octaves; however the principles apply to other amazing sonic feats as well, such as playing harmony to your own playing in real time, or generating the sound of sympathetic strings, such as would be found on a contemporary Hardanger fiddle or a Baroque Viola d’Amore. In this first article, I address the matter of whether an electronic option to violin octave synthesis is a desirable alternative for you. Our Acoustic Bowed Octave Instruments When we started our company almost a decade ago, it was the musical instruments division of Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC (DBA Don Rickert Research & Design), a design research and new product... Read more →

Your Amplified Violin Not Working with Effects Processors?: The Problem is With Your Pickup!

Attention!: This is an older post. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. You will want to see the updated version of this article, entitled Your Amplified Violin Not Working with Effects Processors?: The Problem is With Your Pickup! (UPDATE 11-2017) Introduction Many violinists with an “amplifier-ready” (i.e. has a pickup) instrument try to use effect processors to extend their sound palate. Effect processors are usually called “guitar effect boxes”, because such devices have historically been marketed to electric guitarists. Such devices are often referred to by their nickname, “stomp box” (referring to the way they are activated, by stomping on a switch with one’s foot). Many amplifiers come with a selection of common effects built into the amplifier housing. Widespread Mistaken Beliefs Study of a large number of discussion threads on online violin and fiddle special interest websites reveals that there is a lot of misinformation about violins and effect signal processors on the web. Widespread wrong information on the web?...say it ain’t so! (sarcasm). Here are a few: Most effect processors do not work with violins. A bowed note is different from a plucked not and, therefore, somehow does not “track” with many effect processors. All guitars, regardless of their pickups, do work with most effect processors. Hopefully, this article can dispel these mistaken beliefs and set you on your way towards using just about any effect signal processor with your violin. Warning: You may have to get another violin. This may be the first time that many... Read more →

Helping People with Special Needs Realize Their Musical Goals: Part 1 of 2

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Prologue This first of two articles focuses on the problems many musicians are trying to overcome. The second article will focus on a large number of solutions we have discovered over the years. Note: The author himself multi-instrumentalist, including fiddle, violin and viola, suffers from artritis, rotator cuff injury and neuropathy. Introduction D. Rickert Musical Instruments and its online store, the Don Rickert Musician Shop, have become the "go to" places for the unique, unusual and more than occasionally, the cutting edge. We address "special needs" for musicians. The phrase “special needs” can have a number of meanings: I am looking for a special instrument I am looking for a certain sound I am looking for a replica of something from a specific historic period I want an instrument that is easy to travel with Etc. We get all of the above…we have been doing it for nearly a decade. Physical Limitations Increasingly, we are working with musicians who have actual physical limitations and are looking for an instrument that can help fulfill their creative goals. There are a number of injuries and medical conditions that will limit a string musician’s (especially bowed strings) ability to play certain instruments that he or she was previously able to play with no difficulty whatsoever. These include: Traumatic Injuries Damaged or pinched nerve Broken bone in a finger, hand, elbow, wrist Damaged rotator cuff (see Mayo Clinic site The most common forms of traumatic injury to... Read more →

The White Violin Myth

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Brought to you by the Don Rickert Musician Shop Introduction Most musically inclined people who use eBay are aware of the vast array of unfinished violins, violas and related instruments sold by Chinese lutheries. Such instruments are called “white instruments” in the lutherie trade. If properly completed, most if not all of these low cost Chinese white violins can become very nice instruments. More serious craftsmen and craftswomen are usually able to establish themselves as plausible luthiers and obtain accounts with the major suppliers to the lutherie trade. With such an account, one has access to high-end German and Eastern European white instruments, some costing as much as $650 (that is for an unfinished instruments and NO fittings!). To the uninitiated, a white instrument could seem like a very affordable way of obtaining a violin ranging from intermediate to master level quality. Think again! Something that all professional luthiers know is that the cost of tools and supplies necessary to complete a white instrument is FAR GREATER than the cost of the base instrument. Read on… Minimal Supplies Tools Needed to Complete a Unfinished White Violin or Kit Violin The following items are NOT luxuries. They are ALL essential for setting up a new violin. The total cost for essential tools comes to about $750! Quality Bridge, Strings and Tuning Pegs High-quality white violins never come with these items. Cheap white instruments will often be supplied with a cheap bridge, strings and tuning... 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 →