Claude Victor RAMBAUX

b. Feb. 25, 1806, at Darney in the Vosges; d. June 25, 1871, at Mirecourt. In 1820 was apprenticed to L. Moitessier in Mirecourt, and remained with him till July 12, 1824. Then went to Caen and worked under Thibout, 1824-27, and then to Paris, where, from Aug. 22, 1827, till June 7, 1838, he worked with Gand. In 1838 he started his own business at 18, faubourg Poissonniere. The new instruments that he made show great ability, but he chiefly devoted himself, with infinite patience and care, to repairing old instruments ; he was especially skilful in "cutting down" the old Italian violoncellos, which vary much in pattern, and generally have to be reduced in size to that of the Stradivari model, so as to meet modern requirements. After nineteen years' work in Paris, he retired to Mirecourt in June, 1857, having gained silver medals at the 1844 and 1849 Exhibitions, and the first class medal at the 1835 Paris Exhibition. Label: " Claude Victor Rambaux Brevete a Paris, 1846, C.V.R." He had two sons, but neither of them became violin makers.