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The origin of name "Dogal" is as ancient as the adjective from which it derives, "dogale", or
"of the Doge". This term has the same latin root as "duca" (duke, in English).
It is the story of a family who�s lineage is firmly rooted in the remote past of the antique
Republic of Venice, development which unravels along a fine line of continuity: the evolution of music.
Music which was written, played, printed; music paraphrased in the form of the instruments and
their strings; music appreciated and considered a way of life. The ancestors of the present-day Dogal
tradition were well-known already in the middle of the last century. The Brocco family, natives of Venice
and present in the region of Veneto since the 1866 with a chain of music shops, agents of prestigious
names such as Bechstein and Steinway and in close contact with world-famous artists, considered the
unavailability of strings for bowed instruments on the market.
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In order to recognize and select the best possible
instruments for the demanding Italian market, even when able to choose from the most prestigious foreign
production, clearly it was not sufficient just to be good businessmen. But if importing pianos was one
thing, importing harpsichords is another. This antique instrument, exquisitely Italian, had only one
fault: they were no longer made. In fact, for over three centuries harpsichords were no longer produced
in Italy, and certainly not at the level or quality dreamed by the impassioned music-lover Piergianni
Cella. In the end, it was Cella himself who, around 1928, designed and built "his" harpsichord. The
result of his research was a harpsichord with revolutionary characteristics, which didn�t just re-create
the sound of the antique tradition but actually improved it. The second world war, while slowing further
research on the subject, saw the advent of new technology and materials, of which Cella was able to take
advantage.
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Certainly, the harpsichord is not as popular as the
piano, but those who are fortunate enough to enjoy Cella�s invention cannot fail to take note of the
fact that there is indeed a secret involved. The most attentive of observers will indeed discover that
the instrument employs strings of a type never seen before, made by a small manufacturer in Venice,
if judging by the name: Dogal, owned by Cella himself. Marketing strategies prompted Luigi Cella, manager
of the string-making division, to form a separate company expressly for this purpose in 1950 which he
named "Dogal Corde Armoniche", in homage to the city of Venice, where the company was located, and its
"doges". Taking advantage of the proximity of the "La Fenice" theater and it�s resident artists who
offered their collaboration, Cella began the production of the first Dogal violin strings.
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With traditional gut strings as a point of reference, his objective was to obtain a brilliant, powerful sound
without metallic overtones. The steel core of each string was covered with a series of windings, the last
of which - a breakthrough at the time - was flat-sectioned, thereby offering a smooth surface to the touch.
The resulting interaction with the bowhair gave a sweet, quality sound with considerable volume. It was
November 1952, and the Dogal "Linea Verde" (green line) was introduced to the market, the first of what
would become a series of four. With the natural evolution of the available materials, the "Linea Rossa"
(red line) and the "Linea Blu" (blue line), also known as the "Concert Line", followed thereafter.
In 1990 Dogal Corde Armoniche introduced its synthetic gut range, made with a particular multi-fiber
core similar to Perlon and external windings of alluminium and pure silver. Even though over 40 years have
passed since the founding of the company, most of the production process is still done by hand, with minimal
tolerances over the full length of each string, as only the masterful hands of skilled string makers can produce.
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