1 mins
MY SPACE
ALL PHOTOS DANIELA GAIDANO
LUTHIER DANIELA GAIDANO
LOCATION Meltina, Italy
I moved to this workshop with my husband Alessandro Visintini in 2023 but we’ve been based in this area for around ten years. We met while playing in the same orchestra; I was a violist, he was a flautist, and both of us wanted to be violin makers! During the pandemic we realised that we really wanted to work together and not have to commute to work, so we spent a long time looking for the perfect space. Now we are in the village of Meltina, around 15 miles north of Bolzano, where all our neighbours are farmers. We also like to leave our newly varnished instruments outdoors to dry in the fresh mountain sun.
We specialise in making the violoncello da spalla, the ‘shoulder cello’, a kind of small cello that can be played horizontally. I was formerly the co-owner of gut string manufacturer Aquila Strings, and in 2003 we were asked to make strings for Sigiswald Kuijken’s first da spalla. I thought it was a big toy for violists, then I tried it and discovered it’s an instrument with its own repertoire and dignity. Now I make two main versions, one based on a c.1750 Johann Wagner model and the other on a Badiarov model, more similar to Bach’s own Johann Christian Hoffmann of c.1725. People tend to want to try the Wagner model, it being smaller, but the Hoffmann has a longer neck and is good for playing Bach’s Sixth Cello Suite, so that’s become more popular.
We’ve now been around most of the musical instrument museums in Europe measuring originals of violoncellos da spalla to improve our knowledge. I once visited a village in Abruzzi to interview the old string makers and ask them to explain the 18th-century treatises, to show me their tools and ways of working. We discovered that what were previously thought to be technical terms were just dialect words that they used all the time! The experience taught me that you have to do first-hand research and meet people whenever possible.
Musicians can test their instruments in the little closed-off area. We use the globe to track the violoncellos da spalla we’ve sold; three continents so far, and we’re hoping to add a fourth this year.