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While we are, in fact, associated with several commercial musical instrument ventures, the purpose of this site is informative, containing lots of background information and opinions. Of course, we don't mind if you decide to go to one our stores and buy something.
Our primary galleries and initial discussion channel for prospective buyers of high-end custom and one-of-a-kind innovative musical instruments by Don Rickert Musical Instruments...visit us and be amazed!
Realist(tm) electro-acoustic violins and pickups by David Gage
Select used and vintage instruments
Downloadable products (e.g. books, such as popular book on building cigar box fiddles)
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NOTE: Instruments and accessories by Don Rickert Lutherie or Don Rickert Design are no longer available at the Adventurous Muse Store...only available at the Don Rickert Musical Instruments site
Our parent company is Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC, better known as Don Rickert Research and Design (DBA) and Don Rickert Design (DBA) (www.DonRickertDesign.com).
A product design and design research firm transitioning to specialization in providing Expert Services to law firms and thier clients engaged in patent infrigment litigation, including, but not limited to musical instrument inventions...we ONLY work with the side in such litigation with the ethical high ground!
When we started Don Rickert Musical Instruments about 5 years ago, our business plan was an extension of our parent company, Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC, a research and design firm doing business primarily under the names, officially called "DBA"s (stands for Doing Business As) of Don Rickert Research & Design and Don Rickert Design. Our plan for Don Rickert Musical Instruments was to be a research and design firm dedicated to creating ground-breaking musical instruments that brave souls would buy.
Initially, the world was not quite ready for what we had in mind, so we established an online retail operation called the Adventurous Muse Store (originally called the Fiddle & Bow Store). We got sucked into selling musical instruments and related accessories on a low price-driven basis driven by eBay, Amazon and various other "shopping comparison" sites. The market reality we faced forced us to sell instruments, including our own innovative designs, for FAR less than their actual value. We were subsisting in a true BUYER'S MARKET.
Our parent company, Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC, was doing business in the same maringal profit world.
In the past year things have changed. It all started when Wiederholt & Rickert, LLC was discovered and was fortunate enought break into a difficult-to-enter "Providers Market" consulting niche. That is another story, but suffice it to say that our new-found niche does NOT involve competitive bidding, demontration projects, being "stiffed" (failure to pay) by clients and the like. The good fortune of Wiederholt & Rickert Partners, LLC has fundamentally changed the game for Don Rickert Musical Instruments, opening the opportunity to essentially get out of the online retail business and to concentrate on important reputation-building activities like inventing new musical instruments for international musical instrument design competitions (see the next post on the 2012 Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competitition).
We have opened a new online group of galleries (not a store in the strict sense) called D. Rickert Musical Instruments (www.RickertMusicalInstruments.com) as a conduit for doing business with prospective buyers of our high-end (nothing on the site is a "bargain"!) musical instrument creations on a design consulting basis. This means that all of our musical instruments will be priced on a true time and materials basis. Every instrument "build" is covered by a contract where deadlines, returns, "charge-backs" and the like are not legal options.
We can only do this because we currently DO NOT need the income, thus bringing back the satisfaction of inventing and making one-of-a-kind instruments. We have repeatedly hinted and outright stated here and in other forums that this is what we would do when we had sufficient funding. We sincerly hope that our bold action will help all of the other struggling musical instrument studios to once again thrive, dispelling the illusion of "the bargain" propegated by eBay and the price comparison sites.
Once we have cleaned up our own finacial "train wreck" (e.g. huge debt, etc.), we plan to be able to help other "boutique" firms with the money part.
What About the Adventurous Muse Store?
The Adventurous Muse Store is here to stay. We have moved all of our own instruments from the Adventurous Muse Storefront page and have effectively shut the "back door" where one can get to the undisplayed products via search engines such as Google. All of the hidden products now have a price of $0.00 and a prominent link to Don Rickert Musical Instruments.
You can buy an eBay violin of unknown origin for $200 that is sprayed with automobile paint that you can still smell, has tuning pegs that barely work, the worst strings ever and a tailpiece that is only a copy of a good one...
OR
For $349, you can get a really nice fiddle with genuine hand-rubbed varnish, great strings and top-grade accessories, and a case to boot!
The fiddle is a two-piece back Stradivarius pattern with a modern setup for advanced amateur or professional performance in just about any genre. We set the string height and the degree of bridge arch the way you want it, and string it with Helicore Medium Gauge (powerful and bright) or Thomastik-Infeld Vision Synthetic Core strings (powerful, full-bodied and dark).
The Fiddle
The select spruce top is graduated to Stradivari specs. The back, ribs and neck are dramatically-flamed maple. The fingerboard is select ebony.
Varnishing
We expertly varnish the instrument with traditional oil varnish in a stunning golden brown. The varnish is applied by hand in the traditional manner; not sprayed!
The Sound
This instrument has a perfect balance of bold depth of tone and brilliant clarity. The projection is powerful (loud and sonorous) and even across all four strings.
After all, we have years' of experience with making 3" wide backpacker violins sing like full-size violins...imagine what we can do with a full-size instrument.
Summary of Features:
Top: Well-graduated and tap-tuned top-grade European Spruce
Back and Ribs: Well-flamed maple
Tuning Pegs:Traditional ebony, upgradable to Wittner Fine-Tune Planetary Tuning Pegs. These pegs look like ebony, but have a hidden internal gearing. The aluminum shaft of these pegs is not visible when the instrument is strung. See our articles, Why Wittner Fine-Tune Planetary Pegs are a Good Idea and Secret Fiddle Tuning Weapon.
Bridge:A high-quality (generally Bausch, Teller or Aubert) is cut and adjusted for type of strings that will be using and your style of playing. We have been playing and setting up fiddles for over 3 decades and know how to trim a bridge for FIDDLERS!
Chin Rest: Polished ebony Guarneri-style
Tailpiece:Choice of Wittner Ultra polycarbonate with 4 built-in fine tuners or a Dov Schmidt Harp compensated ebony tailpiece with either a single fine-tuner for the e"-string or NO fine-tuners. You would choose the Dov Schmidt Harp if you opt for the Wittener Fine-Tune Planetary Tuning Pegs.
Tail Gut:Wittner or Sacconi nylon.
The Strings:The standard strings for this instrument are Helicore Medium Gauge or Thomastik-Infeld Vision Synthetic Core. Both strings are easy on the fingers. The Helicores a powerful and bright, whereas the Visions are powerful and dark. We always use the correct gauges of strings for the best sound on your instrument! We assume that, as a fiddler and unlike a violinist, you will be using the following tunings:
Standard: e” a’ d’ g
A Cross-tuning: e” a’ e’ a
G-D Cross-tuning: d’ g’ d’ g
D tuning e” a’ d’ a
Low D tuning d" a' d' D (used by many for such tunes as "Midnight on the Water" and some versions of "Bonaparte's Retreat.")
We can accomodate whatever you wish or advise you on mixed-gauge string sets...we have tried just about anything you can imagine with respect to "unconventional" stringing to accomplish specific musical goals.
We Sweat the Small Details that make a BIG Difference
We always tweak the sound post position for the best sound possible
Unlike most new instrument setups, we actually go to the trouble to adjust the distance between the tailpiece and the bridge to achieve optimal tone and volume from your instrument.
We now have a low cost, well-appointed, expertly-varnished fiddle for about $350, and that includes the case. Until we think of a better name, we are calling it the "Pretty Good Fiddle" by Don Rickert Lutherie. This nice and affordable fiddle is available at our Adventurous Muse Store.
How did we do it?...we finally found a well-made Chinese "white" violin (i.e. basic unfinished instruments with no accessories) from a trusted U.S. distributor that we can craft into a really good fiddle that we are proud to put our label in.
We discovered this new use for these Chinese white fiddles quite by accident. We had been using them for several years to test new varnish formulas and to uncerimoniously cut off their necks to use for prototyping of our high-end instruments. After some testing, we finally realized that we could turn these inexpensive fiddles into instruments that someone would be proud to own.
The "Pretty Good Fiddle" looks a lot like our Performer Pro Master Fiddle, but with far less dramatically flamed backs and ribs. Photos of the backs of the two instruments should illustrate the difference. If you cannot see the difference, what can I say?
They play and sound wonderful...in many cases, better than a lot of the vintage fiddles played by master fiddlers! (like my own 120 year old German-made Reinhold Schmidt, for instance). Here is a list of some of the features (NOTE: ALL of these features are expertly-implemented at the Don Rickert Lutherie Wild Rock Studios in the North Georgia Mountains...Hiawassee, GA, USA!):
Traditional hand-rubbed oil varnish
Flawlessly fit real ebony tuning pegs
High-quality German, Swiss or French bridge
D'Addario Helicore Strings
Wittner Ultra Tailpiece with 4 built-in fine-tuners
This workshop is FREE!...even the materials we supply, such as practice tailpieces and various weights of fishing line to simulate gut strings for practicing the different string knots and loops we will be teaching you. This will be even more fun than a workshop on fly-tying! Now how about that for a bargain? :-)
By arrangement with the Hoppin' John management team, we will be offering the workshop described below by the Adventurous Muse Store / Don Rickert Lutherie vendor tent, times TBA.
The workshop, with a significant hands-on component, will cover how to install the right strings and accessories, as well as proper bridge adjustment, on fiddles for various periods and genres going back to the 1700s. We will save you a lot of time and money on broken gut strings by showing you how to install them the right way...can't do much about keeping them in tune--fiddlers prior to the mid-20th Century spent almost as much time tuning as they did playing.
In addition to covering the basics of historically authentic fiddle setup, we will be demonstrating the playing styles of each period. Several guest fiddlers, all masters of the period fiddling styles they will demonstrating, will be assisting. Don Rickert will be demonstrating the late 18th Century fiddling styles of Neil Gow and Thomas Jefferson.
The primary periods we will cover:
Late 1700s to mid-1800s
Civil War/Minstrel Era
Late 19th and Early 20th Century (about 1920)
1930s - 1950s
1960s - Present Day
To reiterate, we will be discussing and demonstrating fiddle setup, as well as demonstrating the playing styles of each historic period.
If you intend to have us set up your own fiddle to earlier period specs, you might give us a "heads up", so that we are sure to bring a sufficient supply of the right bridges, tuning pegs, tailpieces and strings. Just to set your expectations, older period pure gut strings cost about $60 and good (the kind we use) modern gut strings are about $150.
This workshop is FREE!...even the materials we supply, such as practice tailpieces and various weights of fishing line to simulate gut strings for practicing the different string knots and loops we will be teaching you. This will be even more fun than a workshop on fly-tying! Now how about that for a bargain? :-)
By arrangement with the Hoppin' John management team, we will be offering the workshop described below by the Adventurous Muse Store / Don Rickert Lutherie vendor tent, times TBA.
The workshop, with a significant hands-on component, will cover how to install the right strings and accessories, as well as proper bridge adjustment, on fiddles for various periods and genres going back to the 1700s. We will save you a lot of time and money on broken gut strings by showing you how to install them the right way...can't do much about keeping them in tune--fiddlers prior to the mid-20th Century spent almost as much time tuning as they did playing.
In addition to covering the basics of historically authentic fiddle setup, we will be demonstrating the playing styles of each period. Several guest fiddlers, all masters of the period fiddling styles they will demonstrating, will be assisting. Don Rickert will be demonstrating the late 18th Century fiddling styles of Neil Gow and Thomas Jefferson.
The primary periods we will cover:
Late 1700s to mid-1800s
Civil War/Minstrel Era
Late 19th and Early 20th Century (about 1920)
1930s - 1950s
1960s - Present Day
To reiterate, we will be discussing and demonstrating fiddle setup, as well as demonstrating the playing styles of each historic period.
If you intend to have us set up your own fiddle to earlier period specs, you might give us a "heads up", so that we are sure to bring a sufficient supply of the right bridges, tuning pegs, tailpieces and strings. Just to set your expectations, older period pure gut strings cost about $60 and good (the kind we use) modern gut strings are about $150.
Late 1700s to mid-1800s: Fiddles during this period had pure gut strings. After 1790, copper-wound gut g-strings began to appear. Neither the shoulder rest nor the chin rest had yet been invented. The fiddling of the day was highly-influenced by Scottish and Scots-Irish (i.e. Ulster) fiddling.
The popular playing styles, both with chin to the RIGHT of the tail piece AND fiddle resting on the shoulder will be demonstrated.
Special emphasis on the 1780s period during which Neil Gow (the father of Scottish fiddling) and President Thomas Jefferson were fiddling (note: Tom Jefferson is known as a violinist; however, he broke his wrist, which limited his playing to first position. With the help of his younger brother, he became a pretty respectable fiddler).
Civil War/Minstrel Era:Pure gut strings with a copper-wound gut g-string were common (no steel e" strings yet); however, the unwound g-string continued to be used by many fiddlers. Even though the chin rest had been invented (by Louis Spohr), its use was uncommon, especially among fiddlers. The shoulder rest was not yet invented. We will show you a mid-19th Century replica Spohr Chin Rest and how it was installed.
The playing style, by the 1860s, had evolved to something like a classical hold (chin on the fiddle to the left of the tailpiece), but the bow was held on the shaft rather than at the frog.
A well-known Master of the fiddling of this period will demonstrate the predominant playing style applied to the genuine Civil War Era tunes.
Late 19th and Early 20th Century (about 1920): This period was the dawn of what we now call Old-Time fiddling. The typical stringing was still a wound-gut g-string, with the rest of the strings being pure gut. The steel e"-string was invented about 1880 and was slowly adopted by fiddlers. It was during this period that a distinct "fiddle setup", with a low action and flat-arched bridge, appeared.
Curiously, during this period, the classical chin to the left of the tailpiece instrument "hold" devolved into playing on the arm in a manner similar to the early Baroque period (1600s), in part, no doubt, so that fiddlers could sing while they were playing.
The main reason, however, for the "Baroque hold" probably had more to do with the fact that early recording artists were pictured holding their fiddles in such a manner!
We will demonstrate playing the fiddle in this manner, which pretty much limits one's playing exclusively to first position.
1930s - 1950s:By this time, modern wound-gut strings with a steel e"-string were common. The Bluegrass style came on the scene and many fiddlers began to play "fancy", many using a chin rest to keep the fiddle stable for playing in 2nd through 7th positions (high on the neck, with little use of open strings) just like an orchestral violinist.
A correct (at least close to correct, from a classical violin perspective) bow hold (at the frog) became common.
Old-Time fiddling, except in rural mountain areas, diminished in popularity. Even though the same tunes were often played, they were "jazzed up" versions, often in keys not normally used in the older style of playing.
We will demonstrate some "fancy fiddling" from this era.
1960s - Present Day: By this time, most fiddlers were using all steel strings. Beginning in the late 1950s, thanks to musicians like Pete Seeger and groups like the "New Lost City Ramblers" (fun fact: Jerry Garcia played banjo and occasionally, the fiddle. in this group).
Interestingly, the "Holy Modal Rounders", loved by many and vilified by the "Folk Establishment" appeared on the scene with their warped versions of Old-Time and older tunes.
It has been said that if the Holy Modal Rounders had learned to sing and play in tune with something even close to good timing, they could have been one of the greatest Old-Time bands ever...they didn't, so they became perhaps the first "Punk Old-Time" band. With all their flaws of musicianship, the Holy Modal Rounders were the inspiration to many of us!
What we have today in Old-Time fiddling is a return to many of the techniques used a century ago, combined with attention to really good musicianship, no doubt inspired in large part by the great Bluegrass fiddlers.
In addition to showing you how to set up your fiddle for contemporary Old-Time playing, we will demonstrate some really good Old-Time fiddling as it is played today.
We thought that it would be good to post on what is generally the ONLY Old-Time fiddlers' convention that the Adventurous Muse Store, the main sales channel for Don Rickert Lutherie and Don Rickert Design, bothers to attend as a vendor. This year is no different. Because Hoppin' John Old-Time & Bluegrass Fidders' Convention is so near and dear to our hearts, we refer to it in a number of our other posts.
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The upcoming 5th Annual Hoppin' John Old-Time & Bluegrass Fidders' Convention is at Shakori Hills in Silk Hope, North Carolina (Sept. 15th - 17th, 2011).
There are many good and great Fidders' Conventions, but the Hoppin' John Old-Time & Bluegrass Fiddlers' Convention is usually the ONLY one we attend as vendors. Hoppin' John is in the "GREAT" category. Besides being really fun for us, people actually buy stuff from vendors at Hoppin' John. This year we are pleased to tell you that we will be co-located with our friends, SG Music Company, owned by Shay Garriock and Leslie Staggs (online: SG Fiddles), this year.
While there is a lot of Bluegrass music at Hoppin' John, it is primarily an OLD-TIME fiddlers' convention that actually welcomes (rather than merely tolerates), "Regressive Old-Time" (19th and early 20th Century style, played raw!), as well as so called "Neo-Old-Time" (aka, "Alternative Old-Time", "Old-Time Punk", etc.) contestants.
The overall vibe is mellow, tolerant and "family-friendly" with a significant all-night partying element (once the kids have gone to bed). The ultimate party is the Saturday midnight to the wee hours free form performance/dance. This year the "Freight Hoppers" will be playing at that event...if you like the REAL Old-Time/Roots music, you will love these guys! You can check out some of thier music by visiting their home page.
At the same time, many authentic Civil War Era musical reenactors attend...we are "tight" with the 1st North Carolina Volunteers reenactors and an associated musical aggregation known as the Huckleberry Brothers, for example.
The NUVO BAROQUE™ Fiddles by Don Rickert Lutherie, with several exceptions, are completely modern fiddles that look like really cool ancient instruments from the Early Baroque Period (early 1600s). There are many photos of these exciting instruments in our Facebook photo album, NEW "NUVO BAROQUE" Fiddles Don Rickert Lutherie August 3, 2011.
So, why might you be be interested in one of the Professional Level NUVO BAROQUE™ Fiddles by Don Rickert Lutherie?
Because the base semi-completed and unvarnished instruments, prior undergoing “lutherie magic” by Don Rickert Lutherie, are made by Master Luthiers in Asia (through a cooperative arrangement with Song Chung Lutherie), you can get an incredible instrument for a very affordable prince…average price about $1,100!
The “lutherie magic” performed by Don Rickert Lutherie includes: Completion, graduation, varnishing, tuning peg and bridge fitting, accessorizing and set up The highest quality accessories and strings
You get a traditional hand-rubbed oil varnish treatment typical of instruments costing many thousands of dollars. ALL varnishing is done by Don Rickert Lutherie in Hiawasee, GA.
You get incredible playability for which Don Rickert Lutherie is rapidly developing an international reputation. Don Rickert Lutherie has experience in setting up for optimal playability everything from fretted electric violins to early instruments strung with authentic gut strings.
The NUVO BAROQUE™ instruments have a balanced, yet powerful and bold sonority.
You will have the most unique, coolest looking fiddle you can imagine…a TOTALLY modern fiddle that looks like something from the 1600s!
Don Rickert Design will be officially rolling out its new NUVO BAROQUE™ line of fiddles at the 5th Annual Hoppin’ John Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention(Sept. 15 – 17). These are, with several exceptions, completely modern fiddles that look like really cool ancient instruments from the Early Baroque Period (early 1600s).
These crazy cool instruments will be available at the Adventurous Muse Store. Call or email us (don@DonRickertDesign) if you wish to pre-order at the special festival pricing (see the table at the end of this post).
Through an arrangement with Chinese Master Luthier, Song Chung, we are now able to offer a complete line of MODERN violins and fiddles whose design is based on really cool old and ancient instruments ranging from the early Baroque period to the early Post-Baroque period. These look like early instruments, but are completely modern in their internal structure, stringing and setup. For instance, most of these instruments have modern raised saddles and tailpieces with fine tuners.
The Don Rickert NUVO BAROQUE™ fiddles have full-length modern angled necks rather than Baroque wedged necks. One exception is the 7x7 string (14 strings...7 played and 7 sympathetic) Viola d'Amore, which is an actual Baroque Replica with a Baroque-Modern hybrid neck. Other exceptions are the Francois Chanot Style "cornerless" or "guitar-shaped" instruments, which are from the 19th Century; although they do have early Baroque type sound holes.
All of the NUVO BAROQUE™ instruments are extremely sonorous with outstanding bass response...they tend to be a bit larger than regular modern fiddles. All NUVO BAROQUE™ fiddles, the student/Intermediate as well as Master/Professional models, are made completely from properly seasoned European tone woods.
Intermediate-Level NUVO BAROQUE™ Instruments: Intermediate instruments are student-level violins made entirely by Song Chung and his apprentices. They are very reasonably priced and are labeled as Song Chung instruments, made in China. These instruments have the typical student-level violin sprayed-on varnish and pretty good strings, but are quite nice for the price.
Master/Professional Instruments: The initial construction of these instruments is done by Song Chung and his apprentices. The instruments are then completed, including graduation, expert traditional varnishing and setup by Don Rickert Lutherie in Hiawassee, Georgia, USA. These high-end instruments completed, graduated, varnished, accessorized and set up by Don Rickert Lutherie are labeled Don Rickert Lutherie with reference to the Song Chung Lutherie as the maker of the semi-completed “white” instruments. These Professional instruments from Don Rickert Lutherie are more expensive; however, quite affordable, especially compared to instruments completely hand-made in our workshops from scratch.
Here is what we plan to have available for sale at the 5th Annual Hoppin’ John Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention, Sept. 15 – 17, Silk Hope, NC. Hoppin’ John is a relatively small festival; however, it is the ONLY one that we have found worthwhile from a sales standpoint—plus it is the most fun for us. Full descriptions will be in a separate posting. We will have lots of other instruments and bows at Hoppin’ John, but that is the topic of yet another post.
These instruments will be listed in our online store, the Adventurous Muse Store, in a week or so. In the mean time, you can contact us to make an appointment to play them at Hoppin’ John or to pre-order at the special festival price.
MP3s to Play or Download from this site We have given up on hosting our music files on Facebook and iLike, which seem to be perpetually broken, so we are moving files to this page.
NOTE: We still post MP3s to MySpace; however, there seems to be no way for you to download them.
