Scherl & Roth Model SR85 Cello

click picture to enlarge

Label:

This Scherl & Roth cello comes from the heart of the German string instrument making world. It all started in Markneukirchen, Germany. The Roth shop was first established in Markneukirchen in 1873. Ernst Heinrich Roth I (1877-1948) made the shop into a famous stop for players all over the world to come to and obtain fine instruments. Ernst immersed his son, Ernst Heinrich Roth II, into the trade too. Due to the popularity of their instruments Roth sent his son, EH Roth II, to America to represent the family business and explore the US market. In 1932 Roth II teamed up with Max Scherl to acquire the New York City workshop of Simson & Frey, a string shop my grandmother frequented as a violinist playing in New York City and living in Staten Island. These two owners rebranded the Frey workshop as Scherl & Roth. In 1938 the shop relocated to Cleveland, Ohio which became a huge manufacturing hub for all sorts of instruments. After World War II (1953) the company relocated back to Bubenreuth, West Germany by Albert Roth, the son of Ernst Heinrich Roth II after his father died. The original Roth instruments are all master level instruments. We have had a few in the shop for sale. These Scherl & Roth cellos still retain their combined name and are made with great skill: German detail and engineering. Connolly Music in Long Island, New York has recently taken ownership of the Scherl & Roth workshop.

This instrument is well made with fine tonewood. The spruce top has straight grain and the flame on the back and ribs is narrow and consistent. It is German workmanship in a Stradivarius pattern and finished with ebony fittings. The setup is done here in the shop: pegs, bridge, soundpost, and we gave the cello a German Wittner tailpiece.

Corpus 357.0 mm., Major Width 209.0 mm., Minor Width 169.0 mm., Rib Height 30.0 mm.