scordatura

You can lead a horse to water but can’t make them drink...

A cast (or the real instrument for that matter) can reveal edgework or what is left of it that templates will never do. What is not to get here?

I can verify that Davide Sora’s instruments are spectacular in their appearance. The playability is pretty darn good too!

There are plaster casts of archings and scrolls around. Most are not made available due to clients and museums view that they are proprietary and are not to be shared. I disagree that due to distortion casts are not useful. If a maker is trying to work out the areas that are in-between the templates that are available, a cast can be invaluable.

The mass damper concept made me think of how some formula 1 teams were cheating by using a hidden mass damper in their suspension. Until they got caught…

What changes were made?

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She probably has not played enough instruments or lacks the ability to verbalize the characteristics. That being said she plays at a high level.

Andreas, I don't mean to be captain obvious here but what about changing to a different set of strings?

My version from another post: I think that the way an instrument feels/responds is as important as the sound to a performer. It is tactile. Granted different players have different requirements or skill levels. Instinctively I do think there is a correlation between FFT spectra and playability. But can FFT determine how bowing variables respond when a good player is trying to change the sound? Some instruments have a lot of flexibility and others do not. Can a spectra quantify that? I would say it would be very difficult to interpret that from a chart.

I agree. The main effect of this is tightness due to the cross arch. Tightness over position.

I think that the way an instrument feels/responds is as important as the sound to a performer. It is tactile. Granted different players have different requirements or skill levels. Instinctively I do think there is a correlation between FFT spectra and playability. But can FFT determine how bowing variables respond when a good player is trying to change the sound? Some instruments have a lot of flexibility and others do not. Can a spectra quantify that? I would say it would be very difficult to interpret that from a chart.

Granted thickness is a small variable. I keep thinking about Luiz Bellini telling me "I thickness the top to 2.8 or 2.9. I adjust the arching height to the characteristics of the wood." I should have mentioned above that I would not be opposed in a rare case to add wood! I also remember Melvin Goldsmith talking about making the top on the thick side and adjusting if necessary. Never played his instruments though.

What I am after is to make adjustments after the initial build. The concept would be leave the top/back a little on the thick side, lightly glue the top, then play and evaluate. Remove the top and thin in areas to achieve certain sound and playability outcomes/changes to the existing plates.

I echo the above comments. Worth every penny. Also watch Davide Sora’s videos on YouTube. https://davidesora.altervista.org/videos/

Beautiful guitar Don. Have you done an FFT analysis yet? Hope you get over the hump with the medical stuff. "Youth is waisted on the young" ...

I am curious about the Sam Z. “Gluey” project. Pics and info?

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Sorry, but this is incorrect from a physics point of view. The sound energy (db) level lessens over distance. There are of course variables that are in play that influence how much energy is lost. You are assuming some magic is occurring in Cremonese instruments and not in others. I think this is a misguided concept.

This is a good question. I have a feeling that many makers don't consider this as a variable because they have their approach that does not change unless dictated by the model. Intuitively, I would think that even when the plates are glued to the rib garland there would be a small effect. Some makers don't even finish the edges until after the plates are glued to the ribs.

For my taste, the Vuillaume pegs are the only carved pegs I like. Nice job Melvin.

You wouldn't be talking about Robert "boom boom" Vernon would you? The boom boom nickname came from his big sound.

Good question. From my experience he will answer one up questions here but the info on his site is what it is other than the workshops. The info on the website will get you started though. Would be nice if he did some videos about basic application. I have heard good things about his workshops. Met him once and seemed like a good guy.

Screenshots from Jesus Torres’ presentation. Not sure what is represented in the material properties pic. Can someone clarify?

Was it just me or was the angle of the bass bar in between the plane of the arching and the gluing surface of the top interesting? I was taught (Nebel, et. al.) to set the bar perpendicular to the gluing surface. All three agreed on this approach. Is there any benefit acoustically? I think Sam Z said it was more aesthetically pleasing. Transcript is below. Sam Z is speaking. so anyway i mean i think what joseph said is there is a lot to it which is just it's unpleasing just to clamp something like that you feel like it's going to slide downhill you want us you sort of want to like address it though and that's not a bad principle in our work that they should not be unpleasing but i do like everybody else do it somewhere in between