FIDDLES

I recently was lucky enough to have Jonathan Cooper make a five string fiddle for me. I've never played such a wonderful instrument. I sounded great right out of the box. It has great power, and a beautiful dark tone. The high end is sweet and not scratchy, the neck is a little wider so the strings are perfectly positioned. It makes me a better fiddle player, or at least brings out the best me possible. I recently purchased another Cooper five-string from my friends and The Violin Shop in Nashville. It has a sweet and slightly orchestral tone and was built in 2014. I also purchased a Silokowski five-string and finally this in September of 2025 I purchased a five-string made by Andrew Carruthers of California.

https://jcooperviolinmaker.com

https://www.andrewcarruthers.com/

My back up fiddles are two five-string acoustic violins made by Glenn Boyd (https://boydviolins.com/) one with Johnny Gimble and one with Vassar Clements carved into the scroll. I also use on various occasions a 1990s Zeta Jazz Fusion five-string, a NS CR-5 and a Guscott X-10 double neck violin-cello.

Pick-Up

I use a Schertler V-Stat on the on all my violins, and I have recently become a Schertler Ambassador In my estimation it has a wonderful true tone and picks up the nuances of each fiddle on which I use them. It does not negatively impact the fiddle tone when playing unamplified. https://youtu.be/wCnbXiP6bms?si=ersMYnHvTZxQ2z-u

Amplification

If I am playing in a setting where I don’t have to worry about feedback or playing in a high volume situation, I will either use a DPA 4099 or a Neumann MCM 114

My main gigging amp these days is a Henriksen Bud (https://www.henriksenamplifiers.com/) It has a six inch speaker and a switchable tweeter. It provides a rich acoustic tone and has plenty of power for any room. It is also only 17 pounds (a real consideration as I get older). I also will use my Henriksen Jazz Amp which has a 12” inch speaker. My old stand-by is an original Music Man 115 65 watt with a 15” JBL in place of the original Music Man speaker.