Archive

More detailed information about stringed instruments and the history of violin making.

Rembert Wurlitzer and the travels of antique violins

International violin making competitions: Ente Triennale Cremona, Concours Etienne Vatelot, VSA competition, Mittenwald violin making competition and other contests

Samuel Zygmuntowicz: understanding Stradivarius in New York

The Ouchard dynasty of bow makers

The bow makers of Markneukirchen: Knopf, Pfretzschner, Rau

Joseph Alfred Lamy père: a key figure in modern bow making

Jean-François Raffin: ten hours - and not a word

Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey: French master violin (certificate Hieronymus Köstler)

The fine French violin presented here is a mature late-period piece by Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey, whose workshop worked under the name H. Derazey, he constructed this violin around 1870 based on a large format model by Antonio Stradivari. The young master Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey was one of the great Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume's most valuable employees. Nine years of this intense and demanding task at JB Vuillaume honed Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey’s skills and left him with a steady hand, even at an advanced age, as this exquisitely crafted violin demonstrates with its natural elegance. Its unmistakably nature can be seen in the delicate blackened scroll and in the rich coat of luminously transparent and radiant orange-brown oil varnish with subtle antiquing and typical traces of age. The tone woods are of the highest quality: very even-grained spruce was selected for the top, whilst the two-piece back highlights the interesting flaming of the premium maple. The purfling and the meticulously crafted sound holes are flawless in their beauty. A single minor repair to the upper part of the right sound hole has no impact on the sound, value or stability. This very fine French violin is now ready to play after having been carefully set up at our atelier for restoration. This outstanding H. Derazey violin has a radiant appearance and a large, resonant, mature sound which is sophisticated, warm, precise and slightly dark in character. A certificate by the Stuttgart expert Hieronymus Köstler is included in the price.