This is a specially-priced special edition fiddle.

Summary

Our Southern Mountain Traditional Fiddles are made to evoke the look of the fiddles made in considerable numbers by independent "mountain luthiers" in the 19th Century. D. Rickert Musical Instruments is actually located in one of the areas where this type of fiddle used to be made, in the North Georgia Mountains...Hiawassee, GA, USA!

These fiddles, a favorite of Civil War Re-enactors, generally do not have super well-flamed ribs and back. They are varnished in an old manner popular in the 19th Century. They are sealed with dilute shellac, stained with very fast-drying dark brown spirit stain, sealed with several coats of shellac and then varnished with linseed oil. The method of varnishing yields the look of asphaltum varnish, which was used extensively in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Asphaltum varnish, basically pitch (made-made tar) is no longer used, as it stinks and is rather toxic.

This fiddle is the Standard Special Edition. It has very little flaming in sides and back. Plain looking, but does the job well!

This fiddle plays and sounds wonderful (full-bodied with bass overtones)...in many cases, better than a lot of the vintage fiddles played by master fiddlers! (like my own 120 year old German-made Reinhold Schmidt, for instance).

Important Information

• Instrument Only!: Case and/or bow are up to you. You can buy great cases and bows here.
• The Setup:  Set up the way most fiddlers love (strings low at nut, medium height at bridge)
• Strings: High-end strings chosen by Dr. Rickert for playability and best sound

De-Farbing

We are often asked to provide this fiddle in "de-farbed" form. This means set up in a manner exactly as it would have been during the 1860s (real gut strings, real gut tail gut, etc.) Cost depends largely on the brand of gut string used. Let us know if you want this instrument de-farbed.

See the video for a completly de-farbed, gut strung version of this instrument.