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Roger Hill

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Everything posted by Roger Hill

  1. http://online.wsj.com/articles/pablo-casalss-cello-gets-a-new-life-1415115960
  2. It would be very useful to discussions of this type if the big name makers, those who actually work on Strads, Guarneris, Amatis, Magginis, etc. would tell us which of the big name violins they have worked on have actually been regraduated. Can't see how that would be a violation of their allegiance to the owners and players.
  3. Hi again, Addie: One other thing Jack told me was that when he and Wali visited the Strad museum there was a tool there that was very similar to the through the FF hole scrapers he devised. I have searched in vain to find any other reference to it on the internet, nor does Sacconi mention it. Jack was quite definite in his description of it. Was it once there? Yes, along with a gold chain he found useful in designing his arches......... (before someone jumps on me, read the last sentence as "who knows?") I hope Bruce Carlson will tell us what he has observed there over the years. I got the impression from Jack that his visit there was some years ago. Could the content of the displays have changed?
  4. Hi Mike and Addie: I had a number of long conversations with Jack, the last a few months before he died. What he stressed to me, and what is not stressed in Wali's book, is the role of the makers experienced ears. That in tuning the violin to please what he hears, he shaped the sound quality to be what he wanted. The maker could start with a mediocre sound quality and enhance the frequencies that were of deficient amplitude, and further, adjust the sound to a pleasing balance, or at least to a state that was the best that that particular instrument could be. The makers here seem to take the attitude that Fry advocated that Strad took one assymetric graduation map and applied it to everything he did, which is clearly not true. As I studied the graduation maps available online, the thought that the various very thin spots seen near the edges of a number of Cremonese violins must be the result of such an approach. The Cremonese graduation maps may appear to be random variations by a maker basically unconcerned with extreme accuracy of his thicknessing, as is advocated by Michael Darnton, whose work, knowledge and helpfulness I respect immensely, but my take on these maps is that the variations in thickness are the result of the maker knowing just where to thin to enhance a particular frequency band. What I find frustrating and maddening is that I have not found a single example of a respected maker building a single violin to test the accuracy of the work of a well qualified scientist who studied the Cremonese violins for 40 years, laid out a complete explanation that he was satisfied with and has even produced videos to demonstrate the end of the process which makes it all work.
  5. http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/03/07/286262067/the-soul-of-the-worlds-most-expensive-violin
  6. I think it would be very useful to all here to re-read the referenced Strad article and the thread discussing it here: http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/321408-francois-denis-article-in-the-strad/
  7. She is normally credited with playing a viola, internet speculation has it to be a Guarneri. Can't vouch for that, but would certainly like to examine more closely......
  8. It is well worth reading, but if you are the average, unwashed American Phillistine, it will drive you crazy. There is an excellent book within this book but it would take a good editor to flesh it out. For the first 100 pages, there are few sentences with fewer than 20 commas. It is very easy to lose the train of thought. Then he goes into a mode of references to obscure European people, events, etc. that require that you read it sitting at your computer desk with Wikipedia open. Too much of it is like a Russian novel with names that require a database app to keep straight. He surely can't have been trying to impress the likes of ol' Rog', I am not worthy of his teaching, and thus, a lot of his erudition is simply wasted on me. I am over half way through it and finding myself more inclined to open my book of Sudoku puzzles rather than start the next chapter of this. I do recognize that if you are in the upper stratosphere of the violin world, this book will be a delight. I look forward to the knowledge and satisfaction I will gain by completing it, but it will be a task...........well, maybe my old timers disease, lexdisia, ADHD and general curmudgeonly disposition are taking over Roger Hill
  9. I suppose you could conclude that they sound good reproducing percussion instruments, which are very difficult for loudspeakers. Then too, you might conclude that they make good decorations. Or that this is one of the more creative uses found for a violin. Or perhaps a bad violin would make a good beater for dead horses. Or you could simply gag............ http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/225724-violin-speaker.html
  10. Hi John: You might want to talk to John Waddle in Minneapolis. He has done something similar to what I infer you are interested in with his ct scans being adapted to CNC. described here: http://waddleviolins.com/accelsite/media/5646/The%20Progress%20of%20Progress.pdf
  11. Ben, Melvin, Christian: it is such a treat to see and hear the work you produce. I'm not a violinist, but I do have an attachment to things old, beautiful and functional. I would love to own a '65 Porsche, but (so far) have been unwilling to part with $50k for a really nice one. Every time i am tempted, I remind myself that they are comfortable to drive maybe two days per year, one in May and one in October. For that same $50k, i could drive a really nice BMW or Lexus and have air conditioning, great handling, smooth ride and quiet every day of the year. I wonder why it should be different for a young violinist. There is certainly nothing that my eyes and ears can discern that places the utility of a Strad or del Gesu above what you gentlemen produce. Simply stunning work. Thanks for posting this for all to appreciate........
  12. more pertinent to that subject: http://ourlighterside.com/stuff/what-will-it-do/
  13. My best wishes for a quick and complete recovery, Craig. Have always appreciated your knowledge and good humor and both will be missed while you are away from our site.
  14. But as Prof. Feynmann explained, you have done nothing to cause them to land.............
  15. The very foundation of the scientific method is that you control all the variables you can identify, then change only one thing at a time and carefully measure its effect. You can rigorously apply the scientific method to one violin, but not across different violins. Oded and Jack Fry (RIP) advocate applying the scientific method to one violin and can measure the effect of various adjustments of thicknesses. On the other hand, trying to apply the scientific method to the thicknesses of violins in general will not succeed because you cannot control all the variables, density, longitudinal stiffness, crossgrain stiffnes, the whole tensor of twisting moduli, wood age, etc. A multiplicity of different values for the variables may give the same result. You may deduce some useful trends, but you are largely in the realm of declaring psychology a rigorous science.
  16. Merry Christmas to you too, Torbjörn . Gee whiz! That information came from one of the inmates at Audio Asylum, and you're telling me it's wrong? C'mon.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments scroll down to 1718
  17. yes he did. This one, to be exact.......... http://www.amazon.com/Bruch-Mendelssohn-Violin-Concertos-Max/dp/B0000041TI/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1320504958&sr=1-2
  18. Beautiful work, John. Tell us more about pattern, arching and varnish. Thanks
  19. I think we are overlooking the two important facts: firstly, Nagavary knows the "secret" and secondly, he is determined to take it to his grave with him. It seems to me that waterboarding is richly justified
  20. Of course they are different, I can actually operate a bamboo fly rod at a very high level . The point is that Robertdo asked about the use of flame treatment as a ground colorant. Many bamboo fly rod makers do this in the belief that, for them, a stiffer rod results as well as providing a very desirable coloration to the rod blank. The article makes it clear to those makers that there is more to heat treatment increasing modulus of elasticity than treating the surface fibers alone. The rod makers and violin makers are both rightly concerned with modulus of elasticity and density. The rod maker is generally trying to create a critically damped structure. The violin maker is also concerned with damping but is not seeking critical damping of the violin body. The similarity of spruce and bamboo in the table is apparent for the constituent breakdown as shown.....whether they are the important constituents or as finely defined as necessary for a violin maker is a different issue. Spruce has a modulus of elasticity approximately twice that of bamboo. As you say, different materials for different applications...............
  21. Hi Robert: Bamboo fly rod makers have the same concerns for materials as violin makers. Many swear by flame treatment of the finished rod blank, others think it a terrible idea. there is much of interest in the linked reference on heat treatment of bamboo, and an interesting table that indicates the similarity between bamboo and spruce. well worth the 20 minutes to read. http://www.powerfibers.com/BAMBOO_IN_THE_LABORATORY.pdf
  22. if the violin is a linear device, it is a minimum phase device, as typified by loudspeaker drivers. For such devices, there is no phase shift from the device in excess of that shown in the power spectrum amplitude. The phase shift from the spectrum is the derivative of the power spectrum amplitude. The phase may be obtained if only the magnitude is known and vice versa. Spend some time with the link for some more detailed info. Whether the violin is in fact, a linear device I will leave to the experts, although I am under the impression that Woodhouse thinks it is. The FFT does indeed calculate phase simultaneously with the amplitude of the response. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/storage/3/1027017/6901heyser.pdf
  23. Wow! 10db between 2500 and 4500Hz. It appears to me that there is an approach to increasing projection in those results.
  24. Thanks, William. please post results of changes.
  25. Hi William: would you mind describing the plate thicknesses at the minimum of the fluting and how far inboard the minima lie? If you don't want to, no problem.
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