Strad “Form B” Cello

Back: Maple
Top: Italian Spruce
Neck: Maple

Heavily pigmented oil varnish

Body length: 759
Bouts: 340, 333, 434
String length: 692
Stop: 400

The meticulous Maestro Stradivari ran a tight shop and carefully labeled his molds and their associated templates and drawings. The words “Forma B”  appear on the mold that was used to produce this model of cello and its design has proven to be the most popular in cello history with millions of artisan and commercially produced copies made over the centuries. Consequently the Form B has become  a standard to which all other cello can be compared, which is a little odd since the form with its elegant, long and narrow proportions, is something of an outlier, the majority of other cellos having a squarer aspect. Other makers have tweaked outlines and proportions to nudge the tone in different directions, but still the original design remains a dependable winner

I wanted to make an instrument that is brighter and more penetrating than the Ruggieri that I normally make, so I chose the Forma B and used maple for the back. What I got was an instrument that is not so much bright as focused, it has a very solid low end and is very pulled together and articulate in the high registers.