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Carlo Giuseppe Testore
Testore
is by many of the double-bass connoisseurs in the top ten of the bass
makers, a thought that is shared by Gallery Strings. Born is Novara, Italy
in 1660, went to work in Milan in c1683, where he worked with Grancino,
another of the great Italian makers. Testore made many instruments
including of the string family, but to bass players he is the players
maker understanding very well the needs of the musician. The strange thing
about Testore's double-basses is that he never ever seemed to have decided
on a form for his instruments, making basses that varied in shape and
sizes. But all the basses that have been attributed to this fine maker and
been through the workshop of Gallery Strings, all have been great playing
instruments. This though is the best we have had to-date. This is a violin
cornered flat backed bass, made from slab cut pine on the table and a not
to pretty figured maple back and ribs. It was often the case that Testore
never bothered to select really fine grained wood, or heavily curled
figured maple, preferring rather plain uninteresting looking wood instead.
But what matters is the sound, and they all seemed to work well. The
varnish is a golden reddish brown. A wonderful sounding good looking
instrument. It is also interesting to note that this instrument was also
one that was reputed to have been owned by the great player Bottesini,
brought to England on one his tours and left for others to use. This
instrument was also owned by many fine players before going to Japan with
Takehisa Aiba (in the photo), who now plays it in he Metropolitan Symphony
Orchestra in Tokyo.
Takehisa Aiba
Mr. Takehisa Aiba works and lives in Japan. He is the
principal double-bass in the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He is one of
Japans great solo come orchestral players. Over the last fifteen years or
so he has visited Gallery Strings on many occasions and bought several
very fine basses. He has bought several really fine instruments for the
orchestra including the above said Testore, also a very interesting bass
made by Richard Sprackley, who was the court maker for Queen Victoria.
Also bought was a very fine bass attributed to the maker Antonio Maggini,
also known as Pietro Santo Maggini, whom was thought to have been related
to the great Paulo Maggini but in fact probably just made up the name to
cash in the the masters reputation. For himself he bought a Paul Bailly,
which was made in the period when he worked and lived in London. Takehisa
Aiba is a great musician with many fine instruments.
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