Category: Stories about italian luthier

Stories concerning the working life of the Master luthier Federico Cesarini. Anecdotes about the luthier works and his collaborations with the endorsers of Atelier and Custom Shop.

Italian violin makers

Italian violin making has a 4 centuries long tradition. In our century the violin makers are very numerous, of different nationalities and of very varied scholastic origin. Here is a list, which draws on various sources and from private reports, of official professional luthiers. We invite the luthiers not present in the list, to signal us their activity specifying the relative details. They will be added to keep this page updated. Thank you

Aguzzi Dario
Airenti Antonino
Alberini Guido
Alberoni Alberto
Algieri Francesco
Amato Francesco
Amighetti Claudio
Amodeo Simone
Anedda Marc
Aquilino Luigi
Ardoli Massimo
Arezio Claudio
Asinari Sandro
Assandri Gianmaria
Attili Eriberto
Baratto Luca
Barbiero Walter
Bardella Elena
Bariselli Luigi
Barone Renato
Belli Corrado
Bellini Luca
Bergonzi Riccardo
Bernabeu Borja
Biasin Alberto
Bini Luciano
Bissolotti Francesco
Bissolotti Maurizio
Bissolotti Vincenzo
Blot Eric
Blot Mael
Bodini Stefania1973Italiascheda
Bonino Sergio17.01.1964Italiascheda
Borchardt Gaspar1961Italiascheda
Borchardt Sibylle Fehr1965Italiascheda
Bottelli Enrico Italiascheda
Bramante Emanuele Italiascheda
Brancato Paola Italiascheda
Brunelli Marco21.05.1972Italiascheda
Buccellè Michele23.07.1981Italiascheda
Buchinger Wolfgang Italiascheda
Bulfari Alceste1948Italiascheda
Cabassi Ivan
Cabrini Andrea
Caliendo Ciro
Campagnolo Luisa
Cargnelutti Marco
Carletti Gabriele
Carlson Bruce
Cassutti Alberto
Cavagnoli Roberto
Cavalieri Corrado
Ceci Arturo
Ceci Ornella
Cesarini Federico
Chiesa Carlo Italia
Ciaccio Daniele
Ciaccio Daniele
Ciciliati Alessandro
Ciciliati Roberto
Civa Manuele
Collini Roberto
Commenduli Alessandro
Conia Stefano
Conia Stefano
Copertini Amati Fiorenzo
Corrochano Alvaro
Cortesi Giancarlo
Cossu Francesco
Costardi Bruno
Croce Gloria
Cubanzi Vladimiro
D’Oriano Vittorio
Dacquati Riccarda
Dalla Costa Fabio
Dalla Quercia Francesco
De Pasquale Silverio
Del Gratta Roberto
Delfanti Roberto
Delfi Merlo
Delisle Yves
Demartis Davide
Devenneaux Philippe
Di Biagio Raffaello
Di Labio Ezio
Di Leonardo Augusta
Di Matteo Alessandro
Di Pietrantonio
Dobner Michele
Dodel Hildegard
Eggimann Michel
Eickmeyer Frank
Esposti Piergiuseppe
Fantin Domenico
Farias Pablo
Farina Giampiero
Fasser Filippo
Ferrari Luigi Italia
Ferrari Michele
Ferrazzi Cristiano
Ferron Valerio
Fiora Federico
Fiorentini Danilo
Fischetti Cosim
Formaggia Nicolò
Formaggia Vittorio
Francioli Emanuele
Franzil Pipul Mario
Frasca Spada Giulio
Fratelli Sirleto
Friedmann Bénédicte
Frignani Lorenzo
Fukuyama Kaory
Fulcini Bruno
Gaiano Romano
Galetti Filippo
Galetti Filippo
Galgani Fabio
Gallo Luca Maria
Gamba Luigi
Gambarin Alessandro
Garnier Barthélemy
Gasser Robert
Gastaldi Marco Maria
Giordano Alberto
Giordano Elisabetta
Giovannitti Edoardo
Giraud Franco
Gironi Stefano
Gistri Sergio
Gorr Eduard Angel
Gozzo Giancarlo
Grasso Pietro
Graziani Dino
Gregorat Sergio
Grisales Giorgio
Grisales Jorge Orozco
Guaraldi Riccardo
Gugole Giuseppe
Guicciardi Giancarlo
Guicciardi Raffaella
Heyligers Mathijs Adriaan
Honoré Loeiz
Hornung Pascal Francois
Horvat Martin
Hungerford Lyn
Ignesti Mauro
Improta Luciano
Inguaggiato Mirco
Innocenti Stefano
Ishii Takashi
Ito Lazzari Migiwa
Iuliano Ivo
Ius Martino1974
Ive Marcello
Jost Marianne
Kikuta Hiroshi
Kim Min Sung
Lanaro Roberto
Lanaro Umberto
Lassarat Ludovic
Lazzara Jamie Marie
Lazzari Dante Fulvio
Lazzari Fabrizio
Lazzari Nicola
Lazzaro Giovanni Luca
Lebet Claude
Lee Seung Jin
Leonidas Rafaelian
Levaggi Silvio
Lima Fernando Salvatore
Liuteria Scarampella
Losi Gilberto
Lowenberger Federico
Lunati Mauro
Magrini Cesare
Mangiacasale Salvatore
Marchi Lorenzo
Marchini Rodolfo
Mari Federico
Mariotto Guido
Martino Roldo
Matsushita Toshiyuki
Mayer Winfred
Mayer Winfred
Mazza Evelyn
Mazzolari Mina
Mazzotti Matteo
Mecatti Michele
Medaglia Enrico
Menta Alessandro
Menta Annamaria
Merlini Giuliano
Merlo Delfi
Milani Alessandro
Miller Eddy
Minnozzi Marco
Modica Giuseppa
Montagne Bruno
Montanari Pio
Montanucci Valentina
Montenegro Gianluca
Morassi Gio Batta
Morassi Giovanni
Morassi Simeone
Moredon Igor
Moroder Igor
Muzio Roberto
Nakamura Katzumitzu
Napoleone Giorgio
Natali Gabriele
Negri Gabriele
Negroni Davide
Negroni Massimo
Neumann Bernard
Nicotra Fabio
Nolli Marco
Norcia Gianni
Nupieri Giuseppe
Occhipinti Dario
Orfei Aaron Lorenzo
Orippi Patrizio
Orsini Gianni
Osaki Kanna
Osio Marco
Ottaviani Luigi
Pala Pietro
Palagi Ferdinando
Pampalone Alessio
Pasquetto Luca
Passiatore Ester
Pedota Alessandra
Pedrini Marco
Perego Flavio
Piacentini Fabio
Piasentini Francesco
Piazzi Cecilia
Pica Giuseppe
Piccinotti Barbara
Pignataro Francesco
Pignotti Emidio
Piloni Francesco
Pio Stefano
Pistoni Primo
Poli Gianluca
Portanti Fabrizio
Possenti Gabriele
Prilipco Valerio
Primavera Alfredo
Primavera Andrea
Primon Luca
Pucino Gaetano
Puerari Matteo
Quagliano Giuseppe Lorenzo
Quercetani Desiderio
Radonich Aleksandra
Ragazzi Fabrizio
Ragghianti Fabio
Rampini Claudio
Rapisarda di M. Grasso & C
Raponi Amenio
Regazzi Roberto
Rhee Pietro
Ribes Sebastian
Ricca Claudio
Ricciardi Erika
Riva Matti
Roberto Carlos
Rosenblum Yael
Ruggiero Luca
Russ Edgar
Rusticoni Sylvain
Sacra Arte Liutara di Greganti Carlo Mario
Salvadori Luca
Sanfilippo Ignazio
Sardone Pasquale
Sartori Edo
Sbernini Luca
Scalfi Daniele Alessandro
Scaramelli Sergio
Scartabelli Mauro
Schimpf Michael
Schudtz Andrea
Scianamé Debora
Scipioni Cristiano
Scolari Daniele
Scolari Giorgio
Scrollavezza Elisa
Scrollavezza Renato
Seaux Patrick
Segala Dario
Segamiglia Giustino
Semiani Massimo
Serrano Diego Alberto
Serreri Giovanni Carlo
Severgnini Elio
Severino Sabrina
Simeoni Franco
Soldi Sandro
Somenzi Davide
Sonzogni Umberto
Sora Davide
Sorgentone Paolo
Spadoni Adriano
Sperzaga Angelo
Stanzani Giancarlo
Stefanini Bruno
Stelzer Gianmaria
Streicher Isabella
Suzuki Tetsu
Sverdlik Boris
Tadioli Maurizio
Takahashi Akira
Takahashi Shuichi
Takashi Ishii
Tarantino Francesco
Tartari Anna
Ternovec Marco
Tomassone Sergio
Tonarelli Daniele
Tosello Benito
Tossani Alessandro
Toto Francesco
Trabucchi Stefano
Tribotti Gianni
Triffaux Pierre
Trimboli Pietro
Trotta Guido
Turchi Onorio
Uchiyama Masayuki
Urso Alessandro
Vaccari Alberto
Vaia Ernesto Italiascheda
Valentinetti Salvatore
Varazzani Andrea
Vecchio Paola Maria
Vella Maurizio
Vettori Carlo
Vettori Dario
Vettori Lapo
Vettori Paolo
Vettori Sofia
Vigato Laura
Villa Marcello
Villa Vittorio
Virgoletti Arturo
Volta Fabio
Voltini Alessandro
Yachi Yoko
Zambelli Wanna
Zanetti Gianluca
Zangirolami Luciano
Zanrè Andrea
Zubenko Michele
Zurlini Nicola

Bonus Stradivari – 2018

We can guarantee the BONUS STRADIVARI 2018, until funds run out (10 million euros). The plafond is little compared to possible questions, so we advise you to immediately request a quote from Atelier Cesarini, starting already from January to look for your instrument.

Bonus 2018:

  • Extension of the Bonus to students of all the courses of the Conservatories, ISSMs and organizations authorized to issue recognized Afam qualifications: preaccademici, triennio, biennium and previous regulations. In addition, complementary instrument courses (excluded in 2016) are also included; Extension to the students of the Music High Schools;
  • The terms of the Bonus change: no more than 1,000 euros, but a 65% contribution on the purchase price, up to a maximum contribution of 2,500 euros;
  • The law will come into force from 2018 (still needs to be confirmed in which month), you can already book your instrument in January.

To know the sound of our instruments we recommend our Youtube channel, where there are many visual audio tests.

How to buy a violin or other musical instruments

This argument is certainly very long to deal with, I will only give some guidance indications that can be an help especially to musicians, music lovers and parents of music students.

violino antico
old violin

Giving value to old instruments, luthier’s services and other is an objective that Atelier Cesarini pursues from the beginning, the first step was to create a very detailed luthier price list of the most demanding services.
It was not a very first absolute, but certainly one of the first listprice to have a remarkable specificity, without leaving free interpretation.

Now let’s see which parameters are reliable to give a value to an bowed instrument or a bow, then we’ll try to figure out what we can buy with a certain budget.

Continue reading How to buy a violin or other musical instruments

Restoration of a musical instrument, antique violins value.

Comparing the opening of a violin to restore to a complex surgical operation, which is the opening of the chest, is it right? I would say no, but many similarities can be found.

Violino restauro

The opening of an instrument is always possible, sometimes uninvited because it is invasive, but which, on the other hand, is often indispensable, and above all, can be an improvement.

As a surgical operation that wants to restore the functions of the heart, similarly to the violin to be restored, it is intended to restore its “voice”

Continue reading Restoration of a musical instrument, antique violins value.

Why are luthiers still influenced by antique violin makers?

Building a violin, a cello or a viola with personal shapes and dimensions is always the right choice for Atelier Cesarini. But there are exceptions, some works are certainly inspired by the well-known stradivarian shapes and by dimensions of antique violin makers (Amati, Guarneri, Gasparo da Salò). Perhaps the most used, in general in violin making, is the “Cremonese” violin template (faciebat Stradivari, year 1715).

Costruzione violino
Violin making

violin holes
violin holes

The experimentation, of the various and possible forms of stringed instruments, has been widely done in the past years. Today it is difficult to reinvent something new in this sector.

The dimensions and volumes of classical lutherie have kept them unaltered, since the timbre of the instrument as it was conceived in the past, has been achieved following many empirical tests, which have fixed the sound canons in the ears of musicians and authors, who are past or modern.

It comes naturally to a classical orchestra musician, wanting to replicate the “sound” of a certain repertoire of the period, through an arched instrument that does not go too far from the known.

liutaio
Flamed maple crafting

Conceiving sounds in an abstract and inventive way is a luxury that unfortunately does not belong to the classical repertoire (it is called “classic” also for this reason). The canons are there, getting out from those, can lead to the non-compatibility of the musician with this world.

here you can see a restoration of an old violin. we’ll give you also some advice to understand antique instruments value 

Crime scene on the bench, an antique violin

Discovering a true antique violin from the 1800s or 1900s can be very interesting.

We need to consider that almost all the old musical instruments have now been undercovered, due to the strong interest of a multitude of people that want to take possession of them. So we need to be realistic when we find something, that maybe can have value. A real antique violin of 1800, for example, it can come real damaged, rarely in good condition, expecially the top spruce and varnish.

antique violin opening
antique violin opening

Be aware of flea markets, or not very transparent luthiers, who try to delude you of having a rediscovered a “pearl in the desert”, dated two hundred years. More plausible it is instead a violin that an old owner wants to undo it and then sells it, perhaps through an intermediary.

In the downer photo, the instrument in restoration, has just been rediscovered in an attic. This is a bit the clichet of classical lutherie: “Nonna told me that there is a Stradivari above!”.

It is not “Stradivari“, but a copy of an old German violin with a label bearing “Stradivarius Cremonensis, etc.”, is a copy, but it retains its interest. The woods of this instrument will certainly be very seasoned, even if a bit “bruised”. Finding it partly destroyed is the least that can be expected, we consider that almost a hundred years have passed, they are not few.

Violino rotto
Violino antico, ritrovato. Restauro presso Atelier Cesarini

Atelier Cesarini buy old violins and other antique instruments (also bows) during the year and we restore them. We call those “Cesarini Collection“.

 

Different quality compared, how to buy a cello

The following video represents the dilemma of every student or professional, where to look for the “perfect” musical instrument?

Vintage, handcrafted or studio?

We are in 2017, the era of the web is more real than ever, but unfortunately the common musician does not have exactly a precise idea of what goes on in the market and, above all, of what he needs.

Doubt is certainly a symbol of ability to discern, too much security often leads to risky purchases. Try and listen, this is what we recommend to all musicians looking for their musical instrument.

One’s own subjectivity plays an important role and must not be put aside. The advice of a friend or a professor should never be disdained, indeed it is precious, but it must be sought and not received in a coercive manner. This must never become a “dictat”, one’s taste must become contaminated with various opinions, to strengthen oneself not to annihilate oneself.

In the video Mathilde Sigier plays three cellos, in order:

1 – Semi-professional “Cesarini Pro Studio” cello
2 – Vintage Cello, old french factory (Cesarini Collection)
3 – Old violin-making, cello (circa 1800)

The cello bow used is a Cesarini Selected in round pernambuco.

Best place to buy a violin is where is set a good wood reserve.

The search for wood, for the realization of musical instruments, is a very important discipline for the violin maker, it requires its maximum effort in the online and physical research of the material.
Online market is larger and richer than many others market, the same can not be said for the wood market. This precious material is sometimes found in the most unexpected ways …

Legno per liuteria
Legno per liuteria

… from an elderly violinmaker who closes, from a carpenter who has bought too much for himself, from a farmer who cuts his own plant under his house. Obviously, the seasoning of the wood must be done, especially if the plant has recently been torn down. A different story is made of wood taken from a luthier, who often bought already seasoned wood at the beginning of his activity. This is the best pratice to become the best place to buy a violin.

In Atelier Cesarini often we select seasoned woods, at least 10-20 years, but thanks to the availability of old lutheries that end up activity, we can have seasoned wood up to 40-50 years. This precious material creates the difference in production. The best woods are not used for the production of studio instruments, but for the only professional musical instruments.

Fret dressing, on a vintage semi hollow EKO 100

chitarra semi acustica EKO 100
EKO 100

Today I removed all the frets from this EKO guitar n. 100, vintage semi acoustic from the 70s, Italian factory production (Recanati).

Removing the frets is usually a necessary operation on all vintage guitars, which have not had special care over time.

The frets needed to be changed with the use of the guitar, being composed of relatively soft metal material (18% nickel). Only a few recent models mount hard stainless steel frets, which last longer, but unfortunately make various complications during their mounting on fretboard.

When only the first frets getting used, it often means that the instrument played with a wrong setup.

Continue reading Fret dressing, on a vintage semi hollow EKO 100

Alborosie, a guitar man?

Alborosie comes back to Jamaica with a little gift!

The sound of this guitar (Eko, artisan production), which mounts the C-Big Beat (Cesarini Pickups) seems to have impressed him. Valter Vincenti, his guitarist and our dear friend, should have finished the tour with this guitar, but we will find a solution for him!

These are things that can not be predicted … he told me he felt in love!

Alborosie e Federico Cesarini, after live
Alborosie and Federico Cesarini

We took a picture togheter in Bologna, both for the memory and for the satisfaction. See you soon Alborosie!