This mid period Guarneri del Gesu model is one of my favourites. Cleanly made it shows the master at his peak, without the often overly copied excessive vigour. The concept of a del Gesu is not easy to achieve, the arching can vary from a subtle and fairly full shape to a deep wide fluting giving a lot of movement to the arch.
I like to capture some of his spirit without going overboard. The arching on this violin is worked quite light at the top bout of the front, giving an almost cylindrical structure to the long arch, leaving a strong center section to the bridge platform.
Both front and back are medium high, leaving enough airspace in the body for this standard slightly smaller model (353mm over the back).
The wood for this instrument a deeply rippled one piece back on the slab, and a Italian spruce front of medium fine even grain, showing some beautiful hazel markings all over.
The oil varnish is of a rich and warm orange brown colour, with hints of red over a golden ground.
With its' slightly shorter back length but standard stop and string length it is an easy violin to handle and the sound has got a strong core strength with a varied palette of overtones in the upper register.
Available to view in London