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  2. sospiri
    That's your preference, not mine.
  3. sospiri
    Put your extra strength reading glasses on and use bright light. El Duce's photos show them above about half a millimetre wide in the head of his stick. I believe the technical term is Procumbent ray parenchyma cells, which are radial, that is at 90 degrees to the grain. So where the grain changes direction along the stick they remain at right angles to that change of direction.
  4. GeorgeH
    I did not mean to imply it was an illusion, just that it looked like one. It reminded me of the trick where a magician pulls out yards of colored handkerchiefs from their closed fists.
  5. GeorgeH
    No. This is why front row seats are more expensive than back row seats.
  6. JohnCockburn
    Hi Jeffrey, yes, found the Herdim one. But thanks anyway for the response
  7. violinsRus
    I have seen it done, you soak the wood in water and hammer it, and it parts on the growth ring.
  8. Jeffrey Holmes
    I believe Gewa may still make them. Heridim used to make a lute/gamba reamer ay 1:25?
  9. keyboardclass
    Exactly. If I had a choice between my on the spot condition report and an auction's specialist's report I know whose I'd trust ( and did).
  10. Marty Kasprzyk
    Elm wood is very tough (large deformation before it breaks) and bends nicely.
  11. JohnCockburn
    Anyone know where I can buy one? EDIT: Sorry, forgive my premature posting, found one in the Dictum catalogue
  12. sospiri
    Why? Can't you enjoy the concert equally as much in different parts of the auditorium?
  13. Today
  14. Conor Russell
    Well over a year since I posted anything here. This was finished yesterday, more or less. I just have to build a bit of patina, especially on the front. I carved all the details, edges and head, with just two gouged, a chisel ground round, and a knife. The edgework was done a le Hargrave, first a deep narrow cut over the purfling, then a little flat gouge up to the edge itself. Working into the corners with the flat gouge, and turning it sideways in order to get right to the end naturally left a little triangle of wood at the point. I didn't scrape outside the purfling at all, just left it from the gouge. The colour is best represented by the photo of the head. Just a few snaps on my phone.
  15. sospiri
    I don't know, but those involved in the regeneration say it takes 35-40 years for the trees to grow to a mature size. I would like to know more about where they grow. I don't think they grow in the vast Amazon basin, but in the hilly areas near the coast halfway between Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon delta. If that is the case then there must be many other locations in the world that are suitable?
  16. sospiri
    Of course you do. Every good player know this to be true. But the violin world is extremely elitist and the higher up you go the more you have to deny this plain and simple fact. Whether or not a cheap instrument sounds tonally good is to our ears is a different matter. Whether or not an expensive instrument sounds tonally good to us is again, a different matter. And anyway there are cheap well made instruments made in huge numbers in China. Are we expected to deny this here? Just because this is Maestronet, doesn't mean we have to pander to the elitism does it?
  17. sospiri
    You have never played a cheap but well made instrument? Oh dear, I shouldn't really respond to that because you are living in a separate reality to me. And as for a single player playing the same piece on a slew of violins, can you not see how that would involve a certain degree of inconsistency of concentration and technique?
  18. Michael Szyper
    Your work is so inspiring to me. Keep on working!
  19. Michael Szyper
    Hi and very welcome Mr. Widenhouse, what an honor and enrichment for this forum! Would you be willing to share with us a few thoughts about Ray Chens modern instrument? Completely agree, such a great violinist choosing your instrument should give a violin maker the meaning in life that most of us are striving for. Michael
  20. sospiri
    It's an auction. You know how it goes, Caveat Emptor. What I don't understand is why the heck you bought that piece of junk?
  21. HoGo
    Thanks for lecture, I never paid too much attention to pernambuco and some sources say the tree is nearly extinct in natural habitat. Of course the initiative to replant such trees (same for ebony) is great but how many years it will take till the supply of new wood is able to cover demand? It's impossible to tell how much old stock is there and when it just runs out.
  22. fiddlecollector
    It also looks like abeille wood with a reddish finish.
  23. HoGo
    It's hard to tell from the picture if the cross lines are in wood or just cracks in varnish. Oak or Beech has very prominent medullaries but the wood in OP has none. This wood has medium or small diffuse pores that doesn't looklike ash or chesnut and also not much other visible structure, the color streaks seem to be right around the pores. My guess would be some kind of birch, pehaps gray birch (https://www.wood-database.com/gray-birch/).
  24. GeorgeH
    No logic, pure conjecture because it does not appear (to me) that the maker of this violin sought out attractive tone woods for either the top or back plates, i.e. the top has a wide grain and the back is mostly plain. As far as the ribs go, maybe he was simply looking for something easier to cut and bend than maple. I have no clue as to how to identify where the wood actually came from. @violinsRus That video looks like a magic trick!
  25. fiddlecollector
    Thats where the grey area comes in again, a general auction house that sells everything from fridges to bottles of wine honestly wouldnt be expected to accurately describe an instrument but an auction house that specialise and advertises years of combined experience in that specific field should know what minor repairs mean and if they are going to say anything at all then they should be acurate . But in reality that doesnt always happen.
  26. keyboardclass
    by non- committal they mean jibberish?
  27. jacobsaunders
    Because they tell you (several times) that any condition report is explicitly non-committal, and they gave you the opportunity (that you exercised) to inspect the instrument in person
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