Re: Some thoughts on string instruments from a pla
Ryan Selberg, Cellist from Salt Lake City
>Don,
The makers of my 1999 cello are a married couple, Joseph Grubaugh and Sigrun Seifert, who live and work in Petaluma, Calif, about 40 miles north of San Francisco. They are not players, per se, but they are proficient enough to get a sense of their instruments. The price of their cellos is in the mid $30K range, with the violas and violins less, although I don't know for sure how much less. My guess is mid-$20K range. The have a website, although I don't know how current it is kept, as their son runs it for them. Try: gsviolins.com.
As to a player trying instruments at a shop, particularly when someone who works at the shop is playing it to demonstrate it, it is crucial to have a neutral, but knowledgeable party to act as the buyer's ears and soundingboard. One of the hardest things to assess with any instrument, old or new, is how the sound projects away from the performer. I have played many instruments which sound fantastic under the ear, but all the sound is staying right there for me to enjoy. Others have sounded very small under the ear, as it is all going out into the auditorium. (My cello teacher had a very fine instrument by Guadagnini which sounded very muted under the ear, but got bigger and bigger the farther away the listener got.) I prefer a balance between the two. As an orchestral cellist, I am always at a disadvantage to hear my own instrunment clearly, as it is producing sound from below my head level, whereas I am surrounded by sounds from the orchestra, particularly higher frequencies from winds and brass. My Grubaugh&Siefert gives me a very clear sound under my ear, but also projects extremely well into the hall. And its sound is very much that of a well-seasoned older instrument. As I said, they are VERY talented makers. My other instrument is by another world-class maker, David Burgess, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Both the Grubaughs and Burgess have won so many gold medals for both craftsmanship and tone, that they are now judges at many of the competitions.
Ryan