Continuing in the tradition of Mallion and Mendon, Midian, the cello, is quite heavier than its Stradivarius equivalent.
With a steel frame, the prototype weighs in at approximately 25 lbs. The fingerboard, top and back are sculpted from the traditional woods, but the neck is hammered sheet steel, pounded into a proper curvature with a cross peen hammer. Needing a more massive roll bar to correlate with the size of the instrument, I designed it to be, not solid, but more three-dimensional and made from several pieces of steel, following the shape of the bridge.
Like the Mallion contrabass, Midian the cello is self-supported by a Gravitational Domination Base that is specifically designed to compliment the instruments’s shape, functionality and weight. It would also be possible to build a Midian “Throne”; a chair to which the instrument could also be attached should anyone like to comission one.