The decision of making a copy as faithful as possible of a certain instrument has surely an aspect of a capricious challenge toward a violin-maker of the past: attempting to figure out the tools that an author might have used, comprehending his gestures, copying the errors and the asymmetries, even re-imagining the history of the use of an instrument with its minor accidents. On one hand this game is liberating, as it permits to understand how contemporary violin-makers, pressed by absolute perfection and symmetry, by the precision of dimensions, by faultless finishing of the instrument, can move away from the most important criteria of their work, well known to old masters.
Furthermore, there is an extremely serious and interesting aspect of the copyist’s work, because probably there is no better way to penetrate an author’s secrets than attempting to imitate him: an objective that must take into consideration innumerable factors in order to ensure satisfying results, but that, above all, helps to better understand instruments from the sound point of view.
Of course a copy may be the more accurate and convincing, the more contact with the instrument to which it is inspired has been deep and direct. Today techniques exist which allow one to obtain tri-dimensional casts with absolute fidelity and precision, even reproducing the relief of the wood fibre or of the purfling. These techniques permit us to abstract wood from the varnish covering it and together with an accurate photographic documentation allow the violin-maker to have excellent references during his work.
Habitually at Scrollavezza & Zanrè’s a single copy of a fine instrument is made for study purposes or to meet a commitment. Subsequently this knowledge is utilized to produce new instruments on that specific model. Finally we allow ourselves interpretations and liberties and even attempt to improve the acoustic potentialities of a project, according to the noble tradition of Italian violin-making. |
