Episode 22: Arpeggione,
a Cello-Guitar Hybrid

August 15, 2025

Arpeggione,
a Cello-Guitar Hybrid

The amazing design of an expressive instrument

📍 Rickmansworth, UK (outside of London)

His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghost_studio_wizzzard/ 

Thoughts and Reflections

It was such an honor meeting Alexander. I was supposed to meet him the previous summer, but he was out of town when I came. So I was happy to have met him this summer (of 2025). Incidentally, one thing that he remarked was that "The timing was good because I just learned English like 2 weeks ago". Apparently, he was was studying for many years, and only 2 weeks ago, something clicked, and he was able to understand and speak near fluently. So it was good that I didn't come a year prior, though ironically, a year prior, my Russian language was better. 

I do hope someday I can speak Russian well-enough to actually go there to conduct some interviews; I'm particularly interested in the far-East indigenous music culture. 

Anyways, as he is Russian, we did talk about the current Ukraine War and how it played a role in him moving to London. Though understandably, he asked that portions of those conversations not be shown in the video.

This is a rare occurance in that after the visit I now yearn to buy one of his instruments. This doesn't happen alot. It is also attributed to the fact that out of most new instruments I play, I was able to pick this up quickly, due to my experience on other similar instruments (guitar, cello, violin, and viol da gamba).