Catalogue
Our instruments.
VFP — 00001
Violin · Stradivari P form
Paris, 2024 · Cremonese tradition · Full dataset available
// FRF · Bridge · 250–700 Hz · Real measurement data
// Vibration modes — experimental measurement
Physical character & acoustic role
- A₀ — Helmholtz-type air-cavity resonance, set by the f-hole geometry, the enclosed air volume and the compliance of the walls. Usually 260–300 Hz; an efficient radiator at low frequencies.
- CBR — a rhomboidal shearing of the waist (centre-bout rotation). Usually 370–450 Hz; structurally well defined but a comparatively weak radiator.
- B1⁻ & B1⁺ — the first two global bending modes of the whole body, near 430–480 Hz and 520–580 Hz. Together they are the main contributors to radiated sound power.
VFP — 00002
Viola · Lupot
Paris, 2026 · 41 cm · Reconstruction & optimisation
Presented at the 50th International Viola Congress (Paris, 2026) as a study in reconstruction and optimisation. The work started from a Lupot violin that Ik knew closely and reinterpreted as a viola; during the same congress we had the chance to study an original Lupot viola. A 41 cm instrument modelled after the style of Nicolas Lupot (1803).
// Vibration modes — computed by finite elements
Vibration modes — computed by finite elements
From model to instrument
- Prediction, not measurement — these four values come from the finite element model built with the mechanical properties measured on offcuts from this instrument’s own plates and ribs, not from a modal test on the finished viola.
- Lower register — compared to a violin, all four modes shift down together; that is the expected signature of a 41 cm body and what sustains the contralto colour the reconstruction was after.
- Verification pending — a modal test on the set-up instrument will let us compare prediction against measurement; it will be published here together with its FRF.
Where it was presented
50th International Viola Congress
Amaury Meza-Pérez, Ik Arellano and Adam Łapiński presented the reconstruction and acoustic modelling of this viola at the instrument’s leading international congress. The geometry was adapted by segmented scaling from documented photographs of an 1803 Lupot violin, and the mechanical properties were obtained by testing offcuts from the plates and ribs themselves.
Congress programme ↗PDF · 12 MB · p. 42
VFP — 00003
Viola · Gennaro
17th-century Cremonese style · Baroque set-up
Modelled on the work of Giacomo Gennaro (c. 1627–1701), pupil and assistant to Nicolò Amati in Cremona between 1641 and 1646. His own output is scarce and he is known above all for a handful of contralto violas that look back to the earlier Amati generations rather than to his own master: f-holes with the short, narrow wings of Andrea Amati, a scroll close to Andrea Guarneri’s. Choosing Gennaro as the model for a viola is not a decorative gesture — it goes to the source, because the viola is precisely where this maker left his signature.