Contemporary master violin by Bernd Ellinger, 2018

This new master violin is a contemporary piece by Bernd Ellinger, a luthier from Rosenheim, Germany, who has created an extremely interesting illustration of his artisanry with this Guarneri replica that is both acoustically and aesthetically flawless. In its unconventional beauty and technical excellence, this faithful tribute to the famous "Lord Wilton" is the young master's homage to his teachers Andreas Augustin and Christoph Götting, who, despite the very different interests and methods they pursue in their work as luthiers, have both had an equal influence on Bernd Ellinger's and complemented each other harmoniously. The delicate yet uniformly subtle antiquing with which Ellinger communicates the character of the instrument has a perfectly natural air and draws upon the wide-ranging vocabulary of the many techniques which Andreas Augustin developed in this discipline and passed down to his students. The gracefulness of the varnish over the striking luminous yellow undercoat highlights the exceedingly lovely flames of the maple back, which was made as one piece in keeping with the historic template of the Lord Wilton Guarneri. It also accentuates the Mittenwald spruce of the top, a tone wood with an elegant grain enlivened by charming asymmetries. The ebony crown of the button is an eye-catching note which echoes the great precision and love of detail that define Ellinger's work and which bears magnificent fruit in this violin's excellent acoustic properties. Here he found the path to the legendary Guarneri sound by emulating Christoph Götting's violins; the latter’s approach to creating sound –– the sum of over two solid decades of work on the finest instruments of the violin making history at a href="/gb/library/experts/j-a-beares-and-beares-expertise-during-changing-times">J. & A. Beare –– is an art that Bernd Ellinger was able to study for four years as Götting's employee in Michelmersh and Wiesbaden. With this violin, he has created an instrument with a surprisingly mature sound, given its tender age. Its voice sings with wonderful balance across all of the strings, a rich warmth and fullness in the lower registers and a sweet radiant brightness in the higher notes.