Luthier - Restorer - Repairer - Dealer. Italian maker of fine violins, violas, cellos and bows. Creating hand crafted instruments for over forty years.Rino Righele creates violins known for their purity of sound, brilliant tone and great carrying power. These beautifully hand crafted instruments are styled after two Stradivarius models and three Guarneri models. Each instrument is varnished with Rino Righele’s own special varnishes creating innovations on traditional formulas. Mostly British Columbia wood is used, making Rino Righele violins truly unique yet traditional masterpieces that have been awarded many prizes in international competitions since 1978.more...See more text
My first batch of work to him were to do minor works on three 1890s violins and to straighten and rehair three antique violin bows: Bausch, Nurnberger and Sivori. The first problem was when he claimed to have sold the Nurnberger bow to his customer for $600, without my consent.
However, recently there were serious troubles when I brought him my 1800 Mittenwald violin for a quote. Rino went ballistic about how he wanted to take off the top: thin out the top and bottom plates that are fine; change a perfectly fine bass bar; replace the lining; reset the neck; and reshape the Baroque arch profile on the backside of the neck. I then notified him not to commence on any work and that I will pick up my violin.
When I arrived to get my violin, he already started work on it and reshaped the neck-arch profile. He then threaten me to have me take the dismantled violin home as is, while he was getting all excited and rough handling it on the work bench.
He also caused a lot of irreversible damage to the peg box, original varnishIn and a fine tuner. A small piece of wood on one of the peg holes was chipped away when he aggressively drilled it for rebushing. Too much of the original varnish/patina on the pegbox, wood worm filling on the rib of the bass f-hole and endpin area were sanded away. The underside of my finely tuned $300 Pernambuco Bois d'Harmonie tailpiece was also hollowed out. When I called to ask about this, he hung up on me again and told me not to talk to him again.
Normally I would not respond to ridiculous reviews but I can no longer ignore this person's blatant lies and half-truths. The claim that I sold his "Nurnberger" bow for $600 without his consent is FALSE as the owner asked me to sell this bow. The bow is a factory made copy, a real Nurnberger bow is stamped with the first and last name, is made of faultless Pernambuco wood and sells for several thousand dollars and the $600 he received was a very good price. The Mittenwald violin 1890 (not 1800 as written in the review) was factory made, had no label and in very poor condition. I suggested it be taken apart since there was extensive worm hole damage on the ribs and the lining was so badly damaged that the only way to properly repair it would be to take the violin apart. As I told him, in my over 40 year experience, worm holes on the ribs is a very strong indication that there is extensive worm hole damage on the belly as it is a softer wood. It’s thicker as well so the damage takes longer to show on the outside. He declined and wanted cosmetic changes, and wanted to spend very little. The violin remained in the shop, untouched for over a month as I was reluctant to do the work without taking the instrument apart, until I received his go-ahead to do the repair of the lining, the peg box re-bushing, wood-worm filling and fitting the tailpiece. The peg box arrived into my shop with the chip, I did NOT chip the peg box. He asked me to fit his Bois d'Harmonie Pernambucco tailpiece on to the violin and in order to do so a slight carve on the underneath of the piece was necessary to fit the E fine tuner of his steel string. The neck was NOT a baroque neck, it was a modern, standard neck that needed the slightest adjustment to be playable. In order to respect his wishes, I did not take apart his violin and I did an excellent job with the limitations imposed on a very difficult and damaged instrument. In his review he claims that he arrived and the violin was"dismantled" when really just the strings and tailpiece were off. I hardly call that dismantled and I was certainly not rough handling the instrument. When he picked up the instrument he did not complain, in fact he seemed very satisfied that is why I was shocked when he began calling me, yelling about the very repairs he asked for. Yes, I did hang up on him, after listening to his ridiculous claims, false and changing stories I couldn't take the verbal abuse anymore. I tried to help this poor, damaged violin and I did so much work for very little money. I have been making and repairing violins for over 40 years and I guess you can't please everyone.
