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 from the past ten years, which provide unique insights into some of the world's most celebrated stringed instruments.
Full list of featured instruments
- c.1566 Andrea Amati Violin
- c.1600 Brothers Amati Cello
- 1618 Henry Jaye Viol
- c.1650 Jacob Stainer Tenor viola
- 1709 Antonio Stradivari 'Viotti' violin
- 1715 Antonio Stradivari 'Titian' violin
- 1716 Antonio Stradivari 'Messiah' violin
- 1717 Domenico Montagnana Violin
- 1717 Pietro Giacomo Rogeri Cello
- 1721 Antonio Stradivari 'Kruse' violin
- 1735 Guarneri 'del Gesu' 'Plowden' violin
- 1736 Carlo Bergonzi Violin
- 1736 Guarneri 'del Gesu 'Cessole', 'Teja-Ferni'
- 1740 Domenico Montagnana Cello
- 1808 Niclas Lupot Violin
Great Instruments 2
***BACK IN STOCK!***
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 new 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
- c.1550 Gasparo da Salò double bass
- Mid-16th century Andrea Amati ‘King’ cello
- 1686 Francesco Rugeri violin
- 1710 Antonio Stradivari ‘Baron Rothschild, Gore-Booth’ cello
- 1713 Antonio Stradivari ‘Huberman’ violin
- c.1720 Matteo Gofriller double bass
- 1726 Antonio Stradivari ‘Saveuse’ cello
- 1743 Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Brusilow’ violin
- 1767 José Contreras violin
- 1774 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ‘Salabue’, ‘Berta’ violin
- c.1851 Giuseppe Rocca double bass
- 1865 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello
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
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Antonio Stradivari ‘Mara’ cello, 1711
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Antonio Stradivari ‘Cecil’ violin, 1724
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violin, 1732
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Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Paravicini’ violin, 1734
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Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume ‘Evangelists’ quartet, 1863
The Best of Trade Secrets
The Best of Trade Secrets 4
In Focus
For a limited time only, The Strad is issuing the first in the In Focus series with a beautiful, new limited edition cover.
This collection of articles from The Strad’s long-running In Focus series brings together more than 80 fascinating stringed instruments, with commentaries by some of today’s top instrument experts.
Makers include Antonio Stradivari, Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and G.B. Guadagnini, but also lesser-known masters such as Paul Knorr, Dante Baldoni, Charles Nicolas Altermatt and many others. This makes it an essential resource for anyone seeking to extend their lutherie knowledge into areas and makers whose work is more rare, and a significant addition to the lutherie literature.
In Focus features exceptional high-quality photographs for every featured instrument – front, back and scroll – this book will provide inspiration for today’s makers and anyone who enjoys the beauty and variety of stringed instruments.
Violin Virtuosos: From Paganini to the 21st Century by Henry Roth
Renowned critic Henry Roth brings his formidable knowledge and enthusiasm to bear on some of the greatest violinists in history. Paganini, Thibaud and Huberman rub shoulders with the likes of Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman in his comprehensive survey, which also provides an unusual history of the instrument itself. Paperback. 392pp.
California Classics Books; First Printing edition (March 1997)
In Focus 2
The Strad ’s second compilation of fascinating articles, written within the last 5 years, brings together fine instruments by some of the world’s greatest instrument experts. In this new anthology, every instrument has been given three pages to include more close-up photographs, archings, angles and tiny details.
The Best of Trade Secrets 5
The Best of Trade Secrets 6
The April 2005 edition of The Strad saw the first in a new regular section: Trade Secrets, in which violin and bow makers would share the technical tips and tricks that they’d worked out for themselves and wanted to share with their peers. Almost two decades later, Trade Secrets is still a mainstay of the magazine, having featured over 200 fully illustrated parts of the making process penned by more than 140 makers around the world. This latest collection brings together 35 of the most recent articles, drawn from the magazine’s pages since the pandemic year of 2020.
BUNDLE – In Focus and In Focus 2
The In Focus anthologies brings together many of the world’s most fascinating stringed instruments, with commentaries by today’s top instrument experts.
Both books feature exceptional high-quality photographs for every featured instrument – front, back and scroll – and will provide inspiration for today’s makers and anyone who enjoys the beauty and variety of stringed instruments.
This bundle includes:
- In Focus (with new limited edition cover)
- In Focus 2
BUNDLE – The Best of Trade Secrets 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
BUNDLE-The Best of Trade Secrets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
An A-Z of Instrument Care by Jane Dorner (2nd Edition)
The Best of Trade Secrets 2
The Best of Trade Secrets 3
Varnishes and Very Curious Secrets: Cremona 1747, ed. Vincenzo Gheroldi
This study is based on a collection of varnish recipes in an 18th-century manuscript in a Milan library. Based on this manuscript, Gheroldi, Stefania Vitale and Luciano Colombo provide the cultural background to the amateurs who wrote artistic recipe books and their preferences and technical skills in preparing varnishes for paintings, as well as 'Chinese varnishes' and varnishes for miniature paintings. Two further essays deal with 18th-century varnishes for violin making and restoration.
This is a fascinating document for understanding the techniques of the 'Golden Age' of Cremonese instruments, and to further experimentation for contemporary violin makers.
Paperback in hard box. 251pp; text in English and Italian.
