Also still in the family is this beautiful violin by Carl Friedrich I Pfretzschner from the last third of the 18th century. Born in 1743, Carl Friedrich I was admitted to the violin makers' guild as a master on 21.05.1766. Together with other Markneukirchen masters, he founded the string makers' guild for the area of Electoral Saxony with its headquarters in Markneukirchen on 11.04.1777 and was one of its masters and later headmaster. At his death in 1798, the church register calls him "citizen and foreman of the string makers, as well as master violin maker". Experts speak of his violins as "magnificent works of German violin making with the most personal ingenuity peculiar to the old Vogtland school of violin making." Lütgendorff writes about him that he obviously knew Italian models, which he also imitated.
 
The instrument shown here has a high arching and a strongly pronounced cove. The purfling is very finely crafted and lies unusually close to the outside. The dark, yellow-brown varnish is largely well preserved. The scroll shows the characteristic features of Pfretzschner scrolls. The instrument was repaired, mainly on the top, once in the late 19th century by Bruno Callsen from Zwickau (who immortalized himself below the right f-hole) and later again by Jochen Voigt in Munich. Interesting is the label which shows the inscription "Cremonien Hieronimi Fili Antoni Nepos ..." known from Carl Friedrich. The date 169? proves that he liked to date his instruments to the time of the great Cremonese violin makers.
 
The instrument is not for sale.
 
body: 35,5 cm
neck scale: 13,0 cm
body scale: 19,4 cm
upper bout: 16,0 cm
middle bout: 10,5 cm
lower bout: 20,1 cm