scordatura
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Posts posted by scordatura
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These devices also measure a larger area the farther you are from the measured surface. This can change your results.
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Are linings merely to add gluing surface? Or should they add some measure of stiffness and mass (admitedly minute)?
Would basswood bend well? If lightness is important would one consider basswood or (god forbid) balsa?
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The outline and corners have very little too do with del gesu. C bouts are not even close to del gesu. To me we do not have to look further than that.
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Thanks for that input. Seems like shellack is a good idea then, and three to four layers should make the neck pretty resistant (slow) to moisture pickup. Is it raw or cooked linseed oil that is used?
I believe that he suggested sun thickened.
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Anders,
From my notes from Hans Nebel:
Raise grain with water. Use either potassium dichromate or chicory for color. He cautions to use the KHCRO4 sparingly for light color. He rubs color from his retouching palatte for color in the flame. End grain absorbs more color to create more contrast. Must seal pores with linseed oil can add burnt sienna. A few drops on a rag will suffice. Seal neck with orange shellac. Can repeat shellac treatment at most 2 to 3 times.
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Interesting. The biggest differences are 8k-10k and to a lesser extent 800-1K. How would you characterize your violin? How does it differ from the one I tried?
Why so thick around the F holes? Don't the wings generate high frequencies?
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On Burgess' recommendation, I ordered a set of Stubai gouges (Darnton spec). With these uber tools and a little more weight training, I will have to challenge him to a cello hogging contest!!!
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Yes Don Noon is doing a baking process. Not as simple as microwaving though. I played one of his violins. The violin had excellent qualities. I will be very interested to see his refinement of the baking approach down the line.
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Funny guys...du macht spass
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Interested in opinions on cutting chamfers. It seems to me for straight surfaces (bridge edges), knife is preferred. Curved surfaces (e.g. scrolls) file.
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What is a VSO?
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is the link. He was simply a magician!
Thanks for the link. I had the pleasure to study with him one summer. Only one year before he passed on. It brought back memories.
To keep this ON TOPIC. He had a really nice Strad. I got to hear him play five days a week for four weeks.
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Dude, glasspack mufflers do not make noise, for the most part. What they do is attenuate noise less than some other types of mufflers. If you knew something about acoustics, I wouldn't need to tell you that.
Now please please please go get some practical experience before you continue expounding on acoustics. One interesting project might be coming to an understanding of how cylinder firing order can affect the sound of an engine. After that, you can look into tuning intakes and exhausts, and what happens to this tuning with varying gas densities and temperatures.
I like you David. A violin maker and gear head with a silly sense of humor. A man after my own heart!
keep those EGTs in check!
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Within reason of course...
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This is why many soloists want an instrument that has sizzle and a projecting tone. To a less developed player the sound under the ear may be less than pleasing.
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I don't think that's what Gingold meant by harshness.... it wasn't an attempt to define a region of the spectrum.
During his later phase, Heifetz had a harsh playing style when one heard him up close. You could hear bow crunches, and fingers snapping down on the fingerboard. It was like all the consonant sounds were exaggerated. Out in a hall, you didn't hear this, just an uncommonly clean, crisp and defined sound. Perhaps you could compare it to wearing stage makeup. A little garish up close, but doing what it's meant to do at a distance.
On tuning sharp:
It's easier to stand out if you aren't playing exactly the same note as a bunch of other people.
Well put! I do an excercise for my students that need to learn how to be heard in a large hall. I have them stand out in the hall while I play. I perform a passage two ways. One where it sounds perfect under my ear and another where I want the sound to be good for the listener in the hall (more aggressive and over annunciate the articulation). Then I have them stand right next to me and repeat the examples. They are usually amazed at the differences. Simply put sound over distance smoothes out and becomes softer (decrease in db). This is like the difference between film acting and stage acting.
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Interesting story, but I would describe Heifetz' del Gesu itself as anything but harsh or scratchy... though it has lost it's raw gut strings.
When I asked a friend (trumpet player in Cleveland ) about Heifetz, he said how he tuned quite sharp. Trying to increase the brilliance of the ex David perhaps?
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You are right. Ferras would have been all over that piece!
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My teacher Josef Gingold told me a story about Heifetz. He came to play years ago with the Cleveland Orchestra. During the rehearsal it sounded like Heifetz was a bit on the scratchy/harsh side to Szell and Gingold (the concertmaster). Szell told Gingold to go out in the hall to hear the balance. When he went out to listen, Gingold was startled to hear how clear and present Heifetz sounded. He was easily heard over the orchestra with none of the harshness that he heard up close.
Keep in mind that Heifetz used an unwound gut D and A string. Perlman and others have said that recordings of Heifetz did not do justice to his sound. The microphone was too close to get the effect in the hall.
There is also another story of a bet that Heifetz had with a friend that he could not be heard above the orchestra at a point in a performance of Chausson’s Poeme. During this section the orchestra is heavily orchestrated and at full song. According to the story Heifetz could be heard and he won the bet.
Of course you can’t be creating a “scratch fest” to achieve this. It is more about imparting enough energy into the instrument to project your sound. Every instrument has its limits in this area. Some can take incredible amounts of bow energy (vertical force, speed, and closeness to the bridge). It is like the Vieuxtemps del Gesu. For those that can do it, it has an extra gear that most violins do not have.
It is kind of like race drivers that have the ability to explore the edges of the friction circle (limits of tire adhesion) on a regular basis. Amateurs think they are there when they may not be even close or go beyond the point of no return with no sense of where the limits are.
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"...That was in response to Don's comment, that people tend to like something in the range of what they are accustomed to."
I sort of get that, and please understand, I'm trying to understand, not challenge.
But someone who has a Mazda Miata then drives a Porsche 911 will immediately understand what's "better" about a greater car.
If an average orchestra musician could play Perlman's "Soil" would they not immediately recognize it as "better" in every sense?
E
Having owned both a Miata and a 911, they are too different to compare. Miata front engine, 911 rear. There is also quite a large difference in 911 models (2wd/4wd). Less so in the Miata. Early 911s have a fussy gearbox. The Miata is one of the best shifting trannys there is. Miatas are incredibly well balanced and the 911 tends to oversteer (except later models). Although everything changed when I supercharged my Miata! A less experienced driver might just like the (stock) Miata...
Better to compare the Miata to a Triumph, MG, Fiat, MR2 or Lotus than a 911.
Sorry to go on a bit but I am passionate about these things...
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One thing that Bellini mentioned to me was that everyone is always talking about thickness. He varies arching as an adjustment for wood. He even measures total arching height in tenths of a mm.
He is making a copy of the Plowden. When I asked him when he thought of this new model for him. He said I am not sure about what I am going to do with the arching.
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Currently you will wait two years or more for a Bellini. Recently I tried a three day old unplayed violin by Bellini. It was an awesome instrument considering it was unplayed. He takes his time and is very meticulous.
A word of caution about your maker assessments. No one can make instruments that sound the same. Granted some are more consistent than others but...
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If you have some grainy wood, commonly you'd like to use a filler of some sort to get a smoother surface for the final finishing. Would it be terribly surprising if the Cremonese did that? And what "filler" would they be likely to use?
Yes. And the lack of minerals on the top would explain that they needed to fill the more porous maple and not the spruce. I wonder if top samples showed mineral/filler from other studies? And is the particulate matter merely visual and accidentally acoustic or only visual?
Laser Guided Infrared Thermometer
in The Pegbox
Posted
When I was using one of these for measuring the temps across the tread of my race tires, there was variation on the readings depending on distance. We developed a simple method to keep the distance fairly consistent.
OT- Before the racing aficionados get upset, I know that a tire pyrometer is more accurate! This cheap approach got us the ability to adjust camber, toe and pressures at events.