Nice winter picture!  That one just missed us.  Just wet and cold here.

Quote from: adriaan on December 05, 2025, 11:56:02 AM
Noordeinde 150 is a short walk from Panorama Mesdag that I posted about in 2023. Stūber did have a shop at the address, he had learned the craft in Markneukirchen. He signed his builds, so yours only passed through his shop.

That seems logical. If I could ask one more... when one says, "from the collection of..." in this language, what does it mean? Here, we would take it to mean it was an item personally owned, or part of a group of things that belonged to the person or organization.


Maybe one of those things that doesn't translate well?  The cello is very well-made, of solid wood, and all carved too, nice scroll work. But certainly not a master grade. That it is fractional-sized suggested to me from the beginning it was meant as a student instrument. A serious student, with a slight build. Perhaps a young lady. I hadn't considered it was the personal property of a violin-maker. I had it completely disassembled and there were no other markings, only some well executed repairs.


*beautiful place. I should add to the travel bucket-list.

Quote from: David Houck on December 05, 2025, 12:04:27 PM
Nice winter picture!  That one just missed us.  Just wet and cold here.

It's really heavy, wet snow. I took a short drive around the valley a little bit ago to see what the road conditions were. They are clear, but there is a thick white blanket on everything else. Pretty to look at but I don't like the way the power lines are drooping.

The wording "from the collection of", the year 1962, and the fact it's a type-written note I thought might suggest it passed through an auction. From what I could find Stüber was active in Den Haag into the 1970s, so an auction doesn't seem likely. It suggests collector's value, which might be a trick of the trade of sorts.

Local folklore in Den Haag has it that families would own a violin case, and they'd send out one of the children to fetch potatoes in the case, whilst making people think they went for music lessons.

We'll probably never know how it came to be found in a rural Virginia tobacco curing barn. It has a beautiful sound, and very good balance, but a wicked wolf note right at the F# note on the D string. I put a suppressor on it that helped to tame it, but just barely. 

Two weekends in a row now! 106' to the street.  

Northwoods morning.
Brisk 1F.

Quote from: pauldo on December 07, 2025, 01:40:20 PM
Northwoods morning.
Brisk 1F.

Nice daybreak shot; but brrrrr.

Quote from: gearhed289 on December 07, 2025, 12:03:12 PM
Two weekends in a row now! 106' to the street. 

Looks slippery!

Another indoor scenery, a concert with 80 audience seats planted amid the orchestra, and 80 more on the perimeter of the room. Obviously, we were sat next to the double basses.

Wow, what a great concept, must have been fun!

Wow also; that must have been some experience.  What pieces did they perform?

Excerpts from Mozart, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Richter and Poulenc, and a piece by a student at the Royal Conservatory. Beethoven and Poulenc had the highest riff content!

Quote from: adriaan on January 25, 2026, 02:54:50 PM
Another indoor scenery, a concert with 80 audience seats planted amid the orchestra, and 80 more on the perimeter of the room. Obviously, we were sat next to the double basses.

The fine adjuster on the E-string is interesting. I'm guessing the bassist uses this for D or C tuning. (*this is why it would never do for me to attend such an event... I would have to ask!)

Quote from: edwardofhuncote on January 26, 2026, 11:31:56 AM
The fine adjuster on the E-string is interesting. I'm guessing the bassist uses this for D or C tuning. (*this is why it would never do for me to attend such an event... I would have to ask!)

Couldn't see the fine adjuster for the clip-on tuner next to it, LOL (they did touch up when the concert master gave the A). It also had a C extension. Not the biggest size double bass, but then the lady playing it wasn't particularly tall either.

There were two bassists, one played French and the other German. If it works ...