The workshop
Restoring
Restoring old instruments has always been fascinating to me. To restore an instrument is to spend countless hours working on it, to repair fundamental parts of it while allowing no one to suspect that the instrument has been reconstructed to its original state.
I first learnt about double basses through repairing and restoring them and I acquired a long experience of both repairwork and restoration before I actually began building basses. Dealing with such a great number and variety of instruments gave me an awareness of the complexity of the double bass and this guided the choices I made concerning tonal characteristics, solidity and the aesthetic qualities I seek.
Today’s music demands both high quality pizzicato and bow emission from a double bass. I work to obtain the best sound quality from each old instrument to fulfill these modern requirements and I enhance tonal definition in the lower registers without compromising the original characteristics of the instrument.
Some old double basses are physically difficult to play for today’s musician who require much greater accessibility. I seek to adjust the position of the musician on the bass and to create greater comfort for the player.
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The doctor's waiting room… |