Travel and Backpacker Fiddles – D Rickert Musical Instruments

Instruments Completed in 2025 to Date

Oct 1, 2025

—

by

in 5-String Violins and Fiddles, About Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Announcements, D. Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Mezzo and Quasi-Mezzo Violins, Octave and Baritone Violins, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

I have been very busy in the first 3 quarters of 2025. I have completed and delivered 12 instruments thus far in 2025. The represent an even mix of ‘Conservatory’ level (intermediate “value priced” instruments) and ‘Professional’ level (high-end) instruments. The latter are the ones made completely by me in our Hiawassee, Georgia (US) workshop.…

What Are ‘Alternative’ Violin Family Instruments?: Three New Articles On that Topic

Mar 13, 2025

—

by

Donald Rickert

in 5-String Violins and Fiddles, Announcements, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Baroque Instruments, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Octave and Baritone Violins, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

Introduction These recent posts on www.RickertMusicalInstruments.com, by luthier Donald Rickert (me), will be of particular interest to players of such instruments as 5-string violins, octave violins, tenor violas, 5-string violas, octave violas and revival instruments such as the violoncello da spalla. With the exception of maybe the violoncello da spalla, classical repertoire is NOT the…

Brief Descriptions for Various Alternative Violin Family Instruments

Mar 11, 2025

—

by

Donald Rickert

in 5-String Violins and Fiddles, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Baroque Instruments, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Observations and Opinion, Octave and Baritone Violins, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

Introduction This post provides brief descriptions of the various alternative and extended range violin family instruments made by D. Rickert Musical Instruments. The descriptions include the normal tuning for each instrument, as well as links to other reference material about each instrument. There are two related posts: Travel / Backpacker Violin A travel violin, also…

Alternative Violin Family Instruments: Relative Sizes and Shapes of Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Range Instruments

Mar 10, 2025

—

by

Donald Rickert

in 5-String Violins and Fiddles, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Baroque Instruments, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Observations and Opinion, Octave and Baritone Violins, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

This article, which includes a photo essay, is about the different “form factors” of various “alternative” or “non-standard” violin family instruments, all of which are made by Don Rickert Musical Instruments. With a few exceptions, the images in the photo essay part of this post are of actual instruments made in the workshop of Don…

Alternative Violin Family Instruments: What Are They For?

Mar 9, 2025

—

by

Donald Rickert

in 5-String Violins and Fiddles, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Baroque Instruments, Guitars, Observations and Opinion, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

Related Articles: Alternative Violin Family Instruments: Relative Sizes and Shapes of Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Range Instruments Brief Descriptions for Various Alternative Violin Family Instruments In this context, “Alternative” or “Non-Standard” bowed string instruments refer to the following: Violin Variants 5-string Violins: See 5-String Violins and Fiddles Travel / Backpacker Violins: See Travel and Backpacker…

It’s a Buyers’ Market for New Bespoke Musical Instruments.

Mar 27, 2024

—

by

Donald Rickert

in Announcements, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Octave and Baritone Violins, Tenor and Octave Violas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles, Violoncello da Spalla

Looking for the best prices ever on high-end bespoke instruments, especially: Violoncellos da Spalla Octave Violins Tenor and Octave Violas Travel Violins and Violas To find out more about the instruments I build, see: Don Rickert Musician Shop. “Buyers’ Market” means that it is exceeding hard for makers to sell their stuff to buyers. That…

Travel Violin Trade-in Offer Ends March 31, 2024!

Mar 24, 2024

—

by

Donald Rickert

in Announcements, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles

Recently I posted two articles on our newest models of Travel Violins and Violas. See: Travel Violins and Violas: Don't Miss Out on Substantial Trade-in Offer It's Travel Violin (and Viola) Time 2024! In both of the aforementioned posts, I said that we would give a substantial trade-in for several popular travel violins by other…

Travel Violins and Violas: Don’t Miss Out on Substantial Trade-in Offer

Mar 4, 2024

—

by

Donald Rickert

in Announcements, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles

In a very recent post, I mentioned that we would take a Cricket Travel Violin or a Wiplstix as a trade-in ($500 for the Cricket, $300 for the Wiplstix) for one of my newest travel violin or travel viola models. See: It’s Travel Violin (and Viola) Time 2024! Our trade-in allowance is not that much…

It’s Travel Violin (and Viola) Time 2024!

Feb 28, 2024

—

by

Donald Rickert

in Announcements, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Don Rickert Musician Shop, Pochettes, Kit Fiddles, Pocket Fiddles, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles

Special Trade-In Offer! For a limited time: $500 trade-in for a Cricket Travel Violin or $300 for a Wiplstix. Contact Info. Don Rickert on Linktree: https://linktr.ee/donrickert. This link gets you to ALL of my detailed contact information, my websites and social media. Email: doctorfiddle@gmail.com Phone (in US): 706-896-0909 or 706-400-1481 (mobile) What is a travel…

Interview With Don Rickert About Pochettes in March-April 2023 Edition of Strings Magazine

May 31, 2023

—

by

Donald Rickert

in Announcements, Backpacker Violins and Pochettes, Baroque Instruments, Don Rickert Musical Instruments, Historic Instrument Replicas, Travel and Backpacker Fiddles

Not too long ago I published an article about an interview I had with Strings Magazine about Baroque pochettes, aka 'pocket fiddles'. See: Donald Rickert is In the March/April 2023 Issue of Strings Magazine I summarized the Strings article, as it was then only available in print. It is now available in a digital edition.…

Category: Travel and Backpacker Fiddles