I’ve just got back from Cremona where I participated in the study day devoted to the ‘Messie’, which is spending its 300th birthday in its home town for the first time since 1775. It has been CT scanned, inspected under UV light, and given other analysis by several labs in Italy, and some very interesting findings have come to light. Firstly, the soundpost crack documented by Cozio di Salabue (and missed on repeated examinations by myself!) has been detected and revealed under powerful magnification and intense ultra violet scanning. This as far as I’m concerned removes any doubt that this is indeed the violin which Cozio bought from Paolo Stradivari, and the provenence established by the Vuillaume and the Hills is correct. There is also important new information about the inscriptions on the various Stradivari moulds, documents and relics in the Museo del Violino’s collection, which allows us to finally and definitively separate Antonio Stradivari’s hand from that of his sons, and equally importantly from the additions made by Cozio. Much food for thought.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a new copy of the ‘Heifetz’ del Gesu has been finished and delivered to, I’m happy to say, a contented customer. This is another thickly wooded Guarneri, like the Paganini, but seems very responsive as well as powerful.

heifetz copy 2

heifetz copy 1

Hefetz copy 3