Cellos
Imagine a cello easy to play even if your thumb just lost its callous.
Consider a sound that doesn't stay hidden somewhere inside but jumps out
at the touch of a bow. Quick response, rich baritone on lower strings and
clear singing upper strings describe my concept of cello tone.
Cellos start at $32,000
Bear
"The Bear" Baritone Cello was finished in 1998 and is the largest cello I have made. Currently it is strung as a baroque instrument which allows its deep and mellow tone to fill a hall. The sound seems to magically bloom. It measures 51 and 1/4 inches in the entire length, body length 32 and 7/8ths inches with a string length of 68.6 cm or 27 inches. The top bout is 14 and 15/16ths inches, the center bout 10 and 13/16ths inches and the bottom bout 20 and 1/8ths inches. I kept the neck narrow making this instrument easy to play in spite of its large size.
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Valgus
This cello completed in 2009 for Sally Baca was designed so that the string length is that of a 3/4 size cello but with the overall full body size. This was done by shrinking the size of the top and center bouts while extending the length and width of the lower bout. All positions are in the normal place on the neck, but the hand does not have to spread and reach for all the notes. The idea for the scroll and purfling detail comes from the world of the surreal; the name, Valgus, means twisted. The cello has a brilliant, powerfully projecting upper register, while the lower sound retains my ideal of being rich and sonorous.
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Chladni
I made this cello in 1976 at the start of my career. It honors the memory of Ernst Chladni who pioneered the study of vibrating string instruments and musical acoustics. The designs on the scroll and the interior are visualizations of vibrating patterns. The instrument can be heard in the Links section.
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Beloved
Beloved was made at the behest of Margeaux, minimalist artist of Santa Fe. This cello, in addition to its primary role as an instrument, was made to allow the voices in "Beloved," the novel by Toni Morrison, to speak aloud. Margeaux printed the entire novel in her own hand inside the cello so that the spirit of the words would always be linked to the music of life. Beloved has a rich voice ripe with all the overtones and nuances we hoped for.
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Gaia
In 2010 I completed "Gaia" for the Spanish-American cellist Phil Wilkinson. Gaia is modeled after a Montagnana instrument. Phil wanted a cello with an all-encompassing tone, rich with possibilities in all registers. For posterity he wanted to express his concept of our world with Gaia intact and content.
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Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh as a cello was made for Melanie Morris, a musician who wanted to preserve and enhance the interface between reality and the imagination which she also felt was most expressed in her life through music. The cello is honey colored and has a very sweet tone. The back is from an unusually beautiful and rare one piece of Oregon maple.
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Angel-of-Grief
The Angel of Grief cello was created during the years 2006–10 for Aaron Baca, a cellist-venture capitalist in California. This cello has a rich robust tone which rings out in a bell-like manner characteristic of my cellos with poplar backs. The inside is painted with themes and threads of poems meaningful to Aaron's life.
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Patriot
The Patriot has a bold and straight forward tone undaunted by its slim outline derived from a brothers Gagliano cello circa the 1700’s. The small cellos I have made from this design are fawned over by many cellists who have ever loved the instrument but felt dwarfed by it at the same time. This cello will truly make you the master/general of your playing. The left-hand reach is comfy even in extended positions, and the right arm never feels like you have to pull your arm out of socket in order to play with whole bow.
I made this cello as my personal tribute to all those who lost their chance at life in the World Trade Center bombing.
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Sequoia
A gold-leaf decorated Alessandro Gagliano cello inspired my Sequoia. Filigrees of gold sequoia leaves decorate the corners and a golden branch complete with cone follows the back of the scroll. The top is made with old-growth cedar, a close relative of the Sequoia, and the back fifty-year-old maple. The tone is dark, and to my imagination, filled with the sounds of an ancient forest.
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Galileo
This large cello based on the Servais Strad is meant for a cellist with Lynn Harrell size hands. The tone is as large as the size and would please most any cellist who could handle the instrument.
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Rose
The Rose is a cello of my own design for a woman who wanted a cello not so big as to be cumbersome, but large and wide enough to produce the lush sound she requested.
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Thrush
Testore’s cellos inspired the lines of the Thrush and Audubon the theme. I like to think that this cello sings almost as well as the avian life-forms on our planet. It also has the narrow neck both in thickness and width which I have found to be left-hand friendly.
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Aspen
Even tone, small size, sleek and long lines, another Brother’s Gagliano cello graced by falling gold leaves, gives the player many options in its warm and easy response.
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Dragon
A fiery cello, its tone seemingly inspired by its name, allows any player to give it all he/she has and still seem to have a reserve.
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Zuni
Zuni is a cello created out of my own imagination and thematically derived from my roots in the Southwest. The brown desert tones of the varnish and the red on black Native American inspired design inside make this cello one of my personal favorites. The tone is open, clean and solid in the bass.
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