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Making history: Pressenda double bass

2026-02-20T09:22:00

NEW (13)

Until now, it was believed that the Turin-based luthier Giovanni Francesco Pressenda had never made a double bass. Tsutomu Miyasaka reveals how an instrument was recently identified that rewrote the story

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Napoleonic wars drew to a close, northern Italy came under greater French influence, and several luthiers moved from the violin making hub of Mirecourt to the bustling city of Turin. One of these was Nicolas Lété, who had already set up a successful instrument business in Mirecourt; he moved to Turin around 1810 and opened a workshop there, producing and selling guitars and other stringed instruments. Lété’s shop soon became the centre of stringed instrument making in the city, and attracted further Mirecourt makers to its workbenches, among whom were Joseph Mulot, Joseph Mougel and Leopold Noiriel…

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