Ilja Grawert of Queensland, Australia, is crafting a 7/8 studio cello, customizable during early construction. Prepared with seasoned European woods, it offers options for personalization in measurements, varnishing with natural products, and potential Fleur De Liz decorations. Completion time varies based on client specifications and urgency. Grawert’s 42-year experience guarantees a unique, masterly sound.
Over the past week, I’ve reshaped the exterior and interior of a studio cello’s top plate, preparing for fine-tuning to enhance its sound; update to follow.
After spending the last few month building the two studio cellos and the studio 15 1/2″ viola, and restoring two more old German ~1920s viola and old Hungarian/German ~ 1950s viola, all are now set-up and ready to be played. I am extremely happy with the sound of all 5 instruments. The cellos are very […]
To get a little inside of what I have been working on in my North Queensland workshop in the last few month, visit my current projects page and see some of the steps in the building of two of my studio cellos, 7/8 & 4/4 size and a 15 ½” viola. They will be finished […]
Now the cello is varnished in a dark brown colour. Again I decided to paint some ‘Fleur De Lis’ again like on the 4/4 studio cello the painting is higher up in the varnish so they stay highly visible and not hidden behind layers and layers of dark varnish …as well as preparing the fingerboard […]
After closing the cello the cello was ready to have the neck fitted. I was so lost in the work on this cello that I totally forgot to take photos . It is very important that the neck is in the right position, in the right angle overlapping the top plate the perfect amount to […]
Each cello carries a song of its own, telling a story of its proportions, the tools and the hands shaping it from a block of wood into this beautiful creation of sound.
I finished fitting the bass bar and glued it to the inner surface of the top plate in its proper position. Gluing is usually a high stress situation as the glues we use are one hundred percent natural hide glue. It needs to be heated and after application the clamps will have to be put […]
This is the third update fitting of my 7/8 cello project winter22. Here is a short description about using chalk for fitting the bass bar. This stage is always exciting as that marks the finishing of the top plate. Fitting with chalk takes around 6-8 hours and has to be very fine with super sharp […]
After fitting and gluing the little wooden placement blocks to hold the bass bar in exactly the same position while fitting, I started with the rough fitting of the bass bar. I place the bass bar in the right position check the fit and use my little thumb planes to shave away some wood. I […]
