Liuteria Dalla Quercia
Frank Eickmeyer
Maestro Liutaio

Frank Eickmeyer was born in 1963 in Neuss (Rhineland, Germany). After attending a Steiner school, where special emphasis was put on arts and crafts, he dedicated himself to playing the cello, as well as to carpentry and sculpture in wood. He began his violin - making studies in 1982 in Gubbio with Maestro Spataffi, continued his studies in Mittenwald (Germany) before finally entering the Parma School of Violin - making, where in 1990 he obtained his diploma under the guidance of Maestro Scrollavezza.

In 1995 Ken Yoshi, principal cellist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, commissioned him to make a cello. Shortly after­wards an Austrian string quartet commissioned a quartet. In 1993 he translated his name, and began to sign his instruments FRANCESCO DALLA QUERCIA (Frank from the Oak).

In September of 2004, he took the master classes of Samuel Zygmuntowicz "Making Copies and Antiquing", Guy Rabut "Set - up and Sound Adjustment" and Hans Nebel in "Retouching of Varnish".

Frequent visits to the workshop of Giancarlo Guicciardi rendered him enthusiastic about the works of Ansaldo Poggi, ex - teacher of Guicciardi.

At the same time he studied the violoncello at the Parma Conservatoire, under Maestro Ballarini. In 1989 he moved to Bologna, where in 1991 he opened his own workshop in the historical centre, in Via del Pratello. There he spent much time researching acoustics in close collaboration with instrumentalists simultaneously regarding the aesthetic - artistic aspect. The scrupulous choice of the primary material is fundamental to the success of an instrument, which aims to touch one immediately with its beauty and its voice. He uses only very well seasoned wood (some specific instruments were made of fir wood from the 18th century), and his varnish is exclusively based on oil. Frank Eickmeyer has also dedicated much time to restoration and the construction of baroque instruments.

Since 2005, he divides his life between Sardinia, Italy, where he builds mainly violoncellos, and Marseille, France, where he develops and enlarges his research on violins.