By Philip J. Kass There’s a famous tale that everyone in the world of violins eventually learns. This tale involves the competition for the design of the violin. Cremona and Brescia were in hot competition, until warfare in the late…
The Italian city of Mantua was home to some of the most important violin makers in history, including Pietro Guarneri, Camillo de Camilli, Tommaso Balestrieri, and Stefano Scarampella.
There is something lovable about unusual bows, as strange as they may be.
What sorts of instruments manage to exhibit investment growth? Let’s talk about investing in that violin with this player's guide to instrument appreciation.
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By Philip J. Kass | From the November-December 2020 issue of Strings magazine My first article for Strings, back in the late 1990s, was about English bows and the marketplace. Twenty years on, have they found a place in the…
By Philip J. Kass | From the March/April 2020 issue of Strings Magazine Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ lived from 1698 to 1744. His instruments, however, have enjoyed a somewhat more extended lifespan and have thus all outlived more than…
By Philip J. Kass In 1772, a young violin maker arrived in London with his family to practice his craft. He was 38 years old and had worked in many cities; his travels had now brought him more than 1,700…
By Philip J. Kass All Images Courtesy of Tarisio Writing about workmanship is fraught with difficulties, not least because of the chances that language does not always adequately depict the visual, and as a result it is possible to draw…
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By Philip J. Kass The most lasting influence of Vincenzo Panormo on the violin world was in his introduction of the Stradivari model into French and English violin making. In this matter he was hardly unique, for there were other…
By Philip J. Kass Ever since old violins first became cherished, we have formed romantic ideas about them and their makers. The truth of the matter is far more prosaic. While violin making, as practiced by a small number of…