New instruments. Gallery

The style and sound of the instruments I make is usually based on the style and graduating thickness patterns of the Amati Family, with stylistic snippets of William Forster II and Stradivarius thrown in where appropriate.
I have found Amati thicknessing to produce a very good balanced sound which carries very well and which gives the musician a palette of many different timbres and hues of tone with which to enrich their music. A lovely example of the work of Andrea Amati is a violin he made in 1564. This violin is now exhibited at the Tullie House Museum in Carlisle.

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Cornelia's “copy” of an instrument made by Robert Cuthbert, who worked to Amati models. Made to commission. The client's instructions were to make it look as it might have looked when it was newly made. The inlay on the fingerboard and tailpiece are true to the period in which the original instrument was made.
This Instrument, A Violino Piccolo which I made to commission, is made to the outline of Carleen Hutchins’s design for her ‘Soprano Violin’
It is tuned to A-D-G-C, an octave above standard viola tuning. The Violino Piccolo was used to play high passages before playing in higher positions on the fingerboard became standard. Famously used in some of J.S.Bach’s compositions.
This full size violin is based on an Amati model. Illustrating the style I like to use. Gracefully shaped corners with a ‘bee sting’. Rounded ‘wiped’ edges of a lighter hue than the rest of the varnish. This instrument is now in the posession of a professional free lance Violinist. It has been varnished with an oil varnish and has a clear well balanced tone which carries well.
A ‘Cello made to a model of P.G.Rogeri . This ‘Cello won the BVMA makers day competition 2009 and was used to play the lunch time recital by Jonathan Rees, with the Cavell Quartet.
Lira da Braccio. Made to commission and completed in September 2014. Originally used in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany lyric and narrative poetry. It is closely related to the medieval fiddle and has a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal pegs. The two strings off the fingerboard are drone strings.