Make a small cello

Small full-sized or 7/8?

2009-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

It's become clear that I need to decide on what I mean by "small cello". People ask if I am interested in smaller full sized instruments or fractional sizes like 7/8? The dilemma for me as a violin maker is that on the one hand there is perceived to be a larger market for smaller full sized cellos while on the other hand I believe that making an even smaller, 7/8 size, instrument would shed more light on the questions of the effects of instrument size on sound and playability. I am going to go with the 7/8 size, hopefully learn more about size and sound, and perhaps be lucky enough to make one of those more comfortable small instruments that sounds as good a larger one.

Matters of size

2009-04-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've been talking to people about cello size and its implications. Musicians, makers and dealers all have slightly different perspectives, some of them contrary. Here are some of the observations that I collected.

Problems related to size and dimensions:

Broad hips making it difficult to accommodate the cello between the legs.
Broad / square shoulders making it difficult to reach over the top of cello to play higher positions. Many players said that this had never been a problem.
Fourth position in the wrong place. This is caused by changing the ratio of neck length to string length, it could be done by the violin maker through method, ignorance or madness - more on this later.
Long strings causing the playing point on the string to move too far south. Players with short arms can be unable to play the full length of the bow to the tip because their arms are too extended, they have to resort to tricks like moving the cello away with the left hand - added work for small players.
Neck too thick or too wide for smaller hands. This could be true on any instrument.
Long strings making it difficult to stretch between intervals, especially in "extended position". Smaller players who are not able to make this stretch have to work harder by making an extra position shift.

"Extended position" demonstrated by Josephine van Lier

Some players said that strings could be too short and felt weird because the intervals were all wrong, though I also spoke to two players who regularly switched between very small sized and regular sized instruments and said that they adjusted quite quickly.

Tonal observations:
I was unable to get anyone to generalize about the tonal differences between regular and smaller sized cellos. While I could get people to agree that there might be a loss of bass and volume in smaller cellos some countered by noting better projection in the higher registers. Musicians wanted to judge instruments by their overall character, accepting a balance of strengths and weaknesses. The stories that musicians were most eager to tell about smaller cellos were of specific small instruments that were in no way deficient and played and sounded better than other cellos. I heard two parallel reports of musicians who found that a (different) violin maker's small instruments sounded better than their regular sized ones. I also heard reports of a particular small Guadagnini being the best sounding instrument in the orchestra by any measure.

Market observations:

Good 7/8 instruments are hard to find - this from players.
7/8 cellos are hard to sell - this from dealers and makers.

What does it all mean?

There was general agreement that smaller cellos are easier to play, it was hard to get a firm view on tonal demerits and musicians were eager to talk about exceptional small instruments that they had come across. All this makes me wonder why the cello, which started out as a larger instrument and evolved down to the Ruggieri / Stradivari/Montagnana size range (I'll get more specific on this later), stopped there even though makers like Guadagnini demonstrated that smaller instruments could also sound fabulous and are easier to play? A possible explanation is that the larger instruments actually do sound better on average and that it is more difficult for an unexceptional violin maker to produce a good small instrument. Players who report on great sounding small instruments may be internally making allowances as in "it sounds great - for a small instrument". The market may be stuck in a feedback loop where the perception that unusual instruments might be harder to sell or resell means that less are produced making them more unusual.

Since no one could really generalize about the tonal characteristics of smaller cellos I got the sense, as I do increasingly in this business, that nobody really knows. What will happen tonally when a particular maker makes a small cello? The only way to find out is to try it.

Why a small cello?

2009-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make a small cello for a couple of reasons:

Diversity
Many players like smaller instruments, some people are smaller themselves and some just don't like to work unnecessarily hard to play their cello. The question is what compromises are they willing to make in order to have a more comfortable instrument? The worry for me as a maker is that a smaller instrument will not have that big, rich, robust sound that I think players expect. There are two things to counter that worry; firstly the assumption that everyone is looking for a big, rich, sound may be wrong, other qualities, like say focus or clarity, could be a players main concern. Secondly, though certain models tend to sound a certain way there may be as much variation between instruments of the same model as between different models. There are many examples of smaller, big sounding instruments.
A new perspective
For fifteen years I've been concentrating on one model of cello, a limitation that I put on myself because there are so many variables that go to creating the tone and playing qualities of an instrument that it seemed best to me to control one of those variables as far as possible until I had developed a feel and understanding of what makes a good instrument work. Now, after 15 years of evolving my version of a Ruggieri model I am getting tolerably consistent results, I've developed my own sense of what I like in a cello and am receiving recognition from players for my instruments. At this point I would like to see what a shift of perspective can teach me about my craft, I'd like to see what pushing design parameters can tell me about stringed instruments in general.

? That's not a cello.

Discovery
One of the things that sparked my interest in small instruments was my recent experience making a tenor ukulele. When I first picked up a tenor uke I viewed it as an inadequate guitar but after a few minutes of noodling around with one I found that it had its own character, producing tones that were intriguing and unique, it had a rich ring in the higher registers that a guitar could never have. In addition to that the size is very seductive, being easy to pick up and put down and is very comfortable to play. It lacks some things that a guitar has, fuller chords, large bass, but it has it's own unique virtues. I hope to make similar discoveries in a small cello.

Questions

What can building a small cello teach me about how a regular instrument works?
For playability is it "the smaller the better" or are there limits?
What are the tonal gains and losses in a smaller cello?

Make a small cello

2009-03-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

This blog will follow the process of making a new cello from early inspiration through information gathering and design to final completion. I want to follow the way the design is modified along the way as I gain insights and my understanding of the instrument changes.

A short necked cello. It would have a comfortable
string length but what are the trade offs?