Great Instruments Bundle – 1, 2 & 3

You can currently purchase as a single bundle our beautiful Great Instruments 1 and Great Instruments 2,  along with our latest Great Instruments 3. Save £15 on the total cost when you buy the 3-book bundle. There is limited availability, so don’t miss out!

Great Instruments

Every generation of violin makers has sought to analyse and understand the classic forms, and, for the past 122 years, the violin world’s leading experts have assessed the latest research into the finest instruments in the pages of The Strad. Great Instruments includes 15 authoritative and beautifully illustrated articles which provide unique insights into some of the world’s most celebrated stringed instruments.

Full list of featured instruments

1. c.1566 Andrea Amati Violin
2. c.1600 Brothers Amati Cello
3. 1619 Henry Jaye Viol
4. c.1650 Jacob Stainer Tenor viola
5. 1709 Antonio Stradivari ‘Viotti’ violin
6. 1715 Antonio Stradivari ‘Titian’ violin
7. 1716 Antonio Stradivari ‘Messiah’ violin
8. 1717 Domenico Montagnana Violin
9. 1717 Pietro Giacomo Rogeri Cello
10. 1721 Antonio Stradivari ‘Kruse’ violin
11. 1735 Guarneri ‘del Gesu’ ‘Plowden’ violin
12. 1736 Carlo Bergonzi Violin
13. 1736 Guarneri ‘del Gesu ‘Cessole’, ‘Teja-Ferni’
14. 1740 Domenico Montagnana Cello
15. 1808 Niclas Lupot Violin

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Great Instruments 2

In 2011 The Strad published a 92-page collection of articles on some of the finest violins, violas and cellos to grace its pages over the previous decade. As well as examinations of historic works such as the Amati ‘King’, thought to be the oldest cello in existence, and Stradivari’s 1713 ‘Huberman’ violin, now played by Joshua Bell, this collection introduces articles on double basses by Rocca, Gofriller and Gasparo da Salò. With high-quality photographs throughout, this is a must for anyone interested in the history and development of beautiful stringed instruments.

Full list of featured instruments

1. c.1550 Gasparo da Salò double bass
2. Mid-16th century Andrea Amati ‘King’ cello
3. 1686 Francesco Rugeri violin
4. 1710 Antonio Stradivari ‘Baron Rothschild, Gore-Booth’ cello
5. 1713 Antonio Stradivari ‘Huberman’ violin
6. c.1720 Matteo Gofriller double bass
7. 1726 Antonio Stradivari ‘Saveuse’ cello
8. 1743 Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Brusilow’ violin
9. 1767 José Contreras violin
10. 1774 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ‘Salabue’, ‘Berta’ violin
11. c.1851 Giuseppe Rocca double bass
12. 1865 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello

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Great Instruments 3

This third volume in The Strad’s Great Instruments series brings together the finest scholarship, research and analysis by some of the world’s leading experts on stringed instruments. Among the highlights are a detailed look at the 1741 ‘Vieuxtemps’ violin by Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, including an acoustic analysis by Joseph Curtin and an interview with its player, Anne Akiko Meyers. There’s also a rare examination of the ‘Boissier, Sarasate’, one of two Stradivari violins formerly owned by Pablo Sarasate, which rarely leaves its current home, the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. And we examine some of the most extraordinary restoration jobs on fine instruments in history: the ‘Mara’ Stradivari cello, almost consigned to a watery grave, and the ‘Paravicini’ Stradivari, which took more than a year to restore to its former glory.

Full list of featured instruments

1. Girolamo Amati II violin, 1671
2. Antonio Stradivari ‘Harrison’ violin, 1693
3. Antonio Stradivari ‘King Carlos IV’ violin, 1709
4. Antonio Stradivari ‘Mara’ cello, 1711
5. Antonio Stradivari ‘Boissier, Sarasate’ violin, 1713
6. Antonio Stradivari ‘Cecil’ violin, 1724
7. Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Armingaud, Fernández Blanco’
   violin, 1732
8. Antonio Stradivari ‘Willemotte’ violin, 1734
9. Carlo Bergonzi ‘Salabue, Martzy’ violin, 1733
10. Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Vieuxtemps’ violin, 1741
11. Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Paravicini’ violin, 1734
12. Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ‘Cozio’ viola, 1773
13. Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume ‘Evangelists’ quartet, 1863