In fact 'Le Messie' has been messed about with: the neck has been lengthened and tilted back (possibly around 1855) and a modern fingerboard fitted. The maker Vuillaume owned the instrument at one time and also removed the original bass bar fitting a longer and stronger one - even this was replaced later by Hills who put in an even more massive one!
Regarding the re-baroqued cellos: none of them seems to fit with how they would have left Strad's workshops - we have his paper patterns which clearly show a massive heel and alignment of the neck not copied, as far as I'm aware, by any modern 'restorer'! All goes to show the dangers of allowing speculative reconstructions....... Martyn --- On Sun, 22/4/12, Sam Chapman <[email protected]> wrote: From: Sam Chapman <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Why no active historical lutes? To: "Edward Mast" <[email protected]> Cc: "Herbert Ward" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Date: Sunday, 22 April, 2012, 23:09 Dear Ned, Yes, the "Messiah" is more or less unmodified I think, though it is certainly not "in active use" - as far as I know, all instruments in the Hill collection at the Ashmolean were donated under the strict condition that they are never to be played! Also, it is pretty hard to convincingly "de-modify" a historical bowed instrument, since most of these instruments have had their soundboards considerably thinned out! Any other offers for Strads in active use in original condition? All the best, Sam On 21 April 2012 23:57, Edward Mast <[1][email protected]> wrote: > I think one or two may have survived un-modified (perhaps the "Messiah"?). Also, Yo Yo Ma 'de-modified' one of his strad cellos (I believe I've read this), reconfiguring it as a Baroque instrument. (How much of a shame the modifications are depends upon who you're talking with, of course). > -Ned > On Apr 21, 2012, at 5:00 PM, Sam Chapman wrote: > >> Just for the record, I don't think any of those Stradivarius violins >> are in anything like their original condition. Which is a real shame. >> >> All the best, >> >> Sam >> >> On 20 April 2012 20:23, Herbert Ward <[2][email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> According to Wikipedia, there are many Strativarius violins >>> in active use today: >>> [3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >>> >>> But I never hear of anyone playing a historical lute routinely. >>> In fact, it seems rare for anyone to even handle one. >>> >>> Is this because the thin soundboard becomes fragile with age? >>> >>> -- >>> >>> >>> >>> To get on or off this list see list information at >>> [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> >> >> -- >> Sam Chapman >> Oetlingerstrasse 65 >> 4057 Basel >> (0041) 79 530 39 91 >> >> > -- Sam Chapman Oetlingerstrasse 65 4057 Basel (0041) 79 530 39 91 -- References 1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
