CELLOS

 Giacinto Rugeri Cello Pattern

Years ago, in the 1990’s, when I was working full time as a restorer, Bob Bein sent us a cello that needed restoration. It was a 1696 Rugeri by Giacinto, son of the well known Francesco. “Needed restoration” was a huge understatement, as it turned out. Wood worms had gotten into the ribs and made quite a mess of things. It took about 1000 hours just to get that part of the project back in order. Nevertheless, I fell in love with this small, beautifully styled cello. It became the basis for the only cello pattern I have used to date. The original was small and is what some might consider a 7/8 size. The back and ribs were of willow, probably the kind that grows in the valleys around the town of Cremona. The original neck and scroll were carved in cherry which I suspect was imported from the east coast of colonial America.

While I liked the compact size I did see fit to make some changes. The stop has been lengthened slightly from 392mm to about 395mm. The C bout has been enlarged, giving the player a bit more bow room in the middle of the instrument, and adding about 8mm to the overall length. The archings are full and the ribs higher than a Strad model, so despite the compact length there is plenty of air volume. The photo on the left is of a cello that won a Certificate of Merit for Tone at the 2006 VSA competition in Baltimore, Maryland. The back is Aspen, which grows on the ridges here in the Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin. All of my cello backs to date have been made of Aspen. It is fantastic tonewood. Italian Aspen was used on two Rugeri cellos I have seen first hand.