Construction

Constructing an interpretation of a historically informed sound.

Construction begins with study.

Before developing and making a new instrument model, I try to understand the historical instruments that define its use and context: which materials were used, their proportions, what modifications they have undergone over time and what kind of sound they may be capable of producing. For this reason, the direct study of original instruments is fundamental to my work. A drawing can show a shape, a measurement can describe a proportion and a photograph can document a detail. But the original instrument also allows us to observe what has not been recorded. The way a material was worked, the actual thickness of a soundboard, the distribution of mass and the stiffness of the structure, as well as certain hidden construction details, are aspects that can be understood most fully through direct examination of the instrument. The original thus becomes a source of information.

Five-course guitars after Giorgio Sellas, Venice, 1639.

Two interpretations based on the same historical instrument from a private collection in Italy: one with a vaulted back, following the original, and one with a flat back, a configuration also documented in the historical production of the Sellas workshop.

String length: 69 cm. Tuning: e′ at A = 440 Hz. Gut strings.

From study to construction.

When developing a new instrument model, I try to understand the reasons behind the construction choices I observe, relating them to the period, the place, the materials, the music for which the instrument was made and the way it may have been used. It is from these relationships that a construction decision emerges. For me, interpretation means arriving at a decision through observation, study and an understanding of the available information. Not all the conditions that contributed to the construction and response of a historical instrument can be known or reproduced today. We can, however, study what the original reveals, relate this information to its historical and musical context and, on that basis, make informed construction decisions.

Nine-course mandora after Gabriel David Buchstetter, Regensburg, 1771.

The body is based on the original instrument preserved at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Inv. MI 47), with additional information drawn from another mandora by Buchstetter, dated 1769, in a private collection in Italy. The neck and pegbox configuration, however, follows a mandora by Johannes Balthasar Jauck, dated 1746, preserved at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels (Inv. 0251).

String lengths: 71.5 cm / 86 cm. Tuning: e′ at A = 415 Hz. Gut strings.

Making and listening.

Construction is also the stage at which these decisions take physical form. Every instrument I make allows me to put something I have observed into practice, modify something else and listen to what happens.Through this repeated experience, I have gradually come to understand how construction choices influence an instrument's response. Mass and stiffness are two fundamental elements. What matters is not only how much material there is, but where it is located and how it is distributed. The same amount of material, placed in different parts of the structure, can produce different behaviour. For this reason, throughout the making process, I pay continuous attention to how the instrument's response develops. It is not simply a question of asking whether the sound is beautiful, but of trying to understand what is happening and why. Understanding which elements determine a particular response, and where within the structure they do so.

Eight-course lute after Giovanni Hieber, Venice, c. 1580.

A remarkably simple yet elegantly constructed instrument, probably intended primarily for musical use rather than display, preserved at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels (Inv. 1561). The relatively broad proportions of its soundbox, compared with other historical models commonly used for the same musical purpose, make it a particularly interesting reference for the intended application.

String length: 59 cm. Tuning: g′ at A = 440 Hz. Nylgut strings.

Historically informed.

For me, making a historically informed instrument means trying to understand the conditions that may have contributed to its sound and acoustic response. Historical and construction-related information forms the starting point. Knowledge of materials, construction techniques and acoustics makes it possible to relate these different elements to one another. Music and context help us understand the reasons behind the choices. The strings, the way the instrument was conceived to be used and its acoustic response are all part of a single system, in which the different elements influence one another and change over time. For this reason, the result can only be an interpretation. I can make instruments on the basis of what I am able to observe, understand and relate to other information today.

Eight-single-string mandora after Johannes Balthasar Jauck, Graz, 1746.

Original nine-course mandoras of this type are extremely rare. Two examples by Jauck are known: one preserved at the Musical Instruments Museum, Brussels (Inv. 0251), and another, dating from c. 1750, in a private collection in France. Interestingly, the latter features exactly the same geometric triple-rosette pattern as the mandora by Gabriel David Buchstetter, dated 1771, preserved at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Inv. MI 47). The eight-single-string configuration refers to a later historical development documented by Simon Molitor in the introduction to his Sonate für Guitare allein (1806). Molitor mentions Herr Magistrath Jos. v. Fauner in Vienna, who had abandoned double courses on the mandora in favour of single strings because of the practical difficulties associated with the former.

String length: 69.4 cm. Tuning: e′ at A = 440 Hz. Nylgut strings.

An ongoing process of research.

Every instrument I make adds something to the knowledge that guides the next. Sometimes it confirms a decision, sometimes it calls that decision into question, sometimes it raises a new question. It is this continuous movement between observation, study, making and listening that guides my work today. I do not regard instrument making as a process leading to a definitive formula. Making instruments is a way of continuing to understand the instruments themselves, their construction and their sound. Study to make and make to understand.

Fourteen-course theorbo after Wendelin Tiefenbrucker, Padua, 1611.

The original instrument, preserved at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Inv. C 47), was probably conceived as a bass lute and subsequently converted into a theorbo. According to modern interpretations of historical sources, the re-entrant tuning of the theorbo developed from experiments with bass lutes towards the end of the 16th century, initially without extended bass strings. With the subsequent addition of a long neck extension to accommodate strings in the lower register, a number of existing bass lutes were converted into theorbos. Several surviving museum instruments provide evidence of such transformations. These instruments often retain the relatively broad soundbox proportions characteristic of bass lutes, compared with instruments originally conceived as theorbos. These proportions offer particularly interesting acoustic characteristics.

String lengths: 82 cm for the seven stopped courses; 154 cm for the seven open bass courses. Tuning: a at A = 440 Hz. Gut strings.