Andreas Preuss violin, Tokyo, Japan

brilliant, sweet, resonant

About the Instrument

This violin is brilliant and sweet, with a beautiful clarity. Its lower registers are resonant and refined. This instrument is an example of Preuss’ practiced antiqued style. The distinctive, glossy gold and apricot varnish on this violin highlights the unique flames on its ribs and two-piece back.

Interior label reads: “Andreas Preuss Faciebat / Tokyo Anno 2017 / ad formam Guarneri del gesu”
Length: 355 mm
Upper Bouts: 165 mm
Middle: 112 mm
Lower Bouts: 205 mm

About the Maker

Andreas Preuss is a contemporary German-born luthier who went to Tokyo as a teenager to study to be a luthier under Soroku Murata. Preuss has since settled in Tokyo. He has great facility in making antiqued as well as straight-varnished instruments, with his copy of Paganini’s Gaurneri “del Gesù” as an example of the former. When antiquing his instruments, Preuss embraces natural methods of staining the wood. “This way, when my instruments get additional wear, it just looks natural,” he explains. Preuss has received a Gold Medal for viola at the Violin: Soul & Shape competition in Moscow.