Andreas Jacobi

Copy of a Viola da Gamba by Andreas Jacobi, after an instrument of Hendrick Jacobs from the year 1680

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Hendrick Jacobs was one of the most important Dutch violin makers of the Baroque. His works are both beautiful in form and demonstrate craftsmanship at a high level. The Viola da Gamba described here copying due both to size (Body length of 69,7 cm and playable string length of 71 cm) and sheer beauty.

 The commission request was not to make an identical copy with all the traces and distortions caused by the passage of time, but rather a living, playable instrument based upon the appearance of the original, but also with corrections the outer form, as well as  better bass bar and back plate stability. The back plates of historical gambi are often  damaged or show traces of repairs and restauration, which indicate constructive, static deficits of the flat back plate in comparison to the modern, convex back plate. On the other hand, it is precisely the flat back plate which gives the viola da gamba its typical, slightly nasal sound quality. Here my decision was to make the back plate somewhat thicker than the original, and to round the edges slightly where they are glued to the ribs.

The drawing obtained from the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag delineates only the asymmetry of the back plate. It is possible, and because of the slightly warped placement of the ribs, probable, that Hendrick Jacobs used an inside mould and fitted the top plate and back silhouette to it. While studying the original in the museum I decided for a symmetrical  outer shape for the rib construction. Thus both top and back plates have, in my copy, the same symmetrical contour and the differences in the outline of back and front -in contrast to the original – are kept to a minimum.

Now I wish to describe some specific parts of the instrument, beginning with the inlays.

Hendrick Jacobs generally used whalebone for his purfling, a practice no longer possible due to the need to protect whales. I chose to use a triple swarf with ebony edging a center of poplar-wood. In order to achieve a more interesting appearance – and one that evokes  pre-industrial woodworking techniques – I sanded the ebony shavings to create a slightly uneven swarf. As the purfling groove had an even measure, the irregularities had to be evened out with the soft, maleable inner swarf of poplar.

Each section of purfling was fitted into the inlay groove, held at the end at the proper angle and only then were the three shaving strips glued. The procedure is complicated, but when the instrument is finished it creates a slight irregularity, which, given the amount of purfling on the back of the instrument, effectively prevents a too industrial, sterile appearance. The picture on the left shows the sorted and cut shavings, the second picture a detail of the middle of the back plate of the finished instrument. The purposeful unevenness of the surface and the variances of thickness can be clearly recognized. The third picture shows the back plate of the copy with all of Hendrick Jacobs' beautifully proportioned diamond patterning  and the double inlay along the edge.

The neck of the Gamba is richly decorated with wood carvings and both the fingerboard and tailpiece are intricately inlaid.

Following the original, the entire pegbox and „head“ are decorated with botanical elements from the oak: the walls of the pegbox are an oak branch, complete with carved leaves and acorns. Before beginning to carve I inserted the pegs, as they seem to arise out of the curves of the branch and twigs. The main branch gives the illusion of springing from the lower end of the back wall of the pegbox, winds itself with involuted leaves up to the head, creates the leafy „headdress“ and then winds further into the wall of the pegbox. In the original this is carved deeply; I chose to round out the leaves and twigs as well as bringing them up from the neck to surround the face in a half-circle. In the original, the area immediately about the head lacks decoration. 

The narrowing of the pegbox with the decorative cuts creates the appearance of a slender neck for the head. The face is a baroque angel, in the original left with few contours about the cheeks, chin and mouth. In the copy I have made this less of a doll-like putto and more adult in features. It is not clear which parts of the original Hendrik Jakobs carved or corrected himself; but differences in the style are clear. The pegs themselves, from the Tempel company, are finished copies of pegs as they were found in period instruments.

The style of the carvings at the base of the neck is different from that of the pegbox, both in the original and in my copy, as shown in the picture pair:

The fingerboard and tailpiece are not, as in the original, made of light maple but of dark ebony. The three millimeter deep inlays are therefore exchanged in the colour: poplar – ebony - poplar, and limewood for the inlaid rhomboid patterning that frames them.

 The picture on the right shows the carved head and the tailpiece.

The rosetta and ring, as in the original, are made with parchment inlays. These extra parchments can also be found in Peter Rambouts' instruments. I chose to make an arch at the fastening of the soundboard , rather than leaving it straight as in the original, in order to show the rosette which is carved out of the top plate. This in turn required that the tailpiece be arched as well. The picture of the entire front view shows both fastenings.

 The following pictures show the copy next to one another: