Gaspar Borchardt violin, 1998, Cremona, ITALY | Metzler Violins

brilliant, mature, resonant

About the Instrument
This violin’s supple tone and clarity are particularly notable in its rich lower timbre, though it is resonant and gorgeous across registers. The varnish is a refined mustard-brown over a gold ground as is thoughtfully antiqued. The beautiful grain on the instrument’s single-piece back of curly maple lists to the upper right bout. The flames are also present on the ribs and are particularly striking on the violin’s neck. 

Interior label reads: “Gaspar Borchardt / fece in Cremona / in Piazzo Duomo - Anno 1998.” A second smaller label reads “IL VIENNESE”—the name Borchardt gave the instrument.
Length: 356 mm
Upper Bouts: 166 mm
Middle: 113 mm
Lower Bouts: 203 mm

About the Maker
Gaspar Borchardt (1961- ) was born in Germany. In his early twenties, he moved to Cremona to study at the Scuola di Liuteria, working closely with Alessandro Crillovi and Francesco Bissolotti. Since 1990, Borchardt has worked with his wife Sibylle Fehr in their workshop in Cremona. Borchardt’s instruments adhere to the traditional Cremonese methods of construction employed since Stradivari while using his own cultivated patterns. Known for refined instruments and using excellent and long-seasoned tonewoods, Borchardt often tests his instruments’ sound when they are “white” (unvarnished), as it is still possible to complete some technical changes at that stage for better acoustics. In 2015, Borchardt strove to find the same wood types used in Stradivari’s shop: flame maples in the Bosnian forest, some two-to-three centuries old, and cut during the winter (when the tree is lightest). These efforts are in the documentary “The Quest for Tonewood,” which shows the many complications of Borchardt’s efforts, including the landmines still present throughout the Bosnian countryside after the war in the 1990s.