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)
G.B. Guadagnini 1774 Salabue Berta Violin poster – Flawed
This poster has damage in the form of a small rip and a crumple, both on the sides, not affecting the images or measurements.
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
Lord Wilton’ Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ violin 1742 poster
Once the concert instrument of Yehudi Menuhin, this magnificent violin makes an interesting contrast with the ‘Alard’ of the same year
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
‘Servais’ Stradivari cello 1701 poster
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Andrea Amati violin 1564 poster
The beauty of the workmanship, tonal properties and rich decoration of this royal instrument has seldom if ever been matched or surpassed. Includes measurements.
'For his scrolls, Andrea seems to have gone directly back to Nature itself. The concept was mathematically and optically so perfect that what followed over the centuries could only be a steady degeneration' – Roger Hargrave in the December 1991 issue of The Strad.
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
‘Alard’ Amati violin 1649 poster
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
Brothers Amati tenor viola 1592 poster
A fine example of the rarely played tenor viola, which set the standard for all the great Cremonese makers. Includes measurements
‘Generally the workmanship, though clean and delicate, lacks something of the usual pristine quality which one would normally associate with a Brothers instrument. Fortunately true art is seldom precise and the majestic beauty of this head is not marred by any shortfall in mathematical symmetry.' – Roger Hargrave in the March 1993 issue
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
‘Sleeping Beauty’ Montagnana cello 1739 poster
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‘Conte Vitale’ Andrea Guarneri viola c.1676 poster
An important instrument from the first maker to concentrate on the smaller-pattern viola. Includes measurements.
‘Guarneri’s scrolls are always charming and totally distinctive. Careless in cutting the central eye perfectly round, he left a little tail into the first turn of the volute that is a Guarneri trademark, giving the bonus of having two different scrolls to enjoy either side of the one head. The fluting carries right round the front of the head and is very cleanly finished at the throat, ample testimony to Guarneri’s skill. What finally elevates this viola to highest rank is its almost entire coat of fine yellow varnish.’ – John Dilworth in the October 1996 issue.
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
G.B. Guadagnini viola 1785 poster
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Matteo Gofriller violin 1700 poster
A classic example of the great Venetian's work: his own pattern with glorious varnish and individual wood selection. Includes measurements
'The violin's hollowed edge is characteristic and the purfling is swept across the corner in Stradivari fashion. The f-holes are typical of the Cremona-influenced Tyrolean makers – based on the Brothers Amati but wider and upright in stance. Over the wood Gofriller laid the most supple varnish, which often seems to have no substance at all but is steeped into the wood, turning it a deep burgundy colour. Beneath the dark patina there is a slight rose-madder tint to the red.' – John Dilworth in the December 2000 issue of The Strad
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
‘Viotti’ Antonio Stradivari violin 1709 poster
One of the top Stradivari violins in the world, the 1709 'Viotti' helped to establish the master's name – thanks to its illustrious owner. The powerful tone and brilliance of sound created by this exceptional combination of instrument and performer (G.B. Viotti) helped to create the Stradivari legend. Includes measurements
‘The whole instrument seems to have been designed to be light, to exploit the minimum mass of wood in the plates and ribs which could support a low but characteristically stiff arching. The arching is full and seems undistorted and extremely regular. The front is delicately worked with a reverse gradation of 2.5–3mm around the perimeter reducing to 2mm in the centre. Yet still the arching is firm, with no sign of collapse around the fs or excessive pressure from the soundpost.’ – John Dilworth in the March 2006 issue
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
Pietro Giacomo Rogeri cello 1717 poster
Our posters are shipped separately from other products. One tube can hold up to 10 posters. Save on postage costs by purchasing up to 10 posters per tube today.
