scordatura
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Posts posted by scordatura
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Sorry, not an official violin term.
And in our business, it carries a certain ambiance, like a physician noting in the records that a patient had diarrhea by writing, “Dat feller coulda $hit through a screen door”.
Suggestions for an official term? We need something which sounds as lofty and sophisticated as other words we use, such as "chatoiancy" and "dichroism".
Belly laugh!
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Hiya Julian,
Strobel is ok, but for starters I'd nudge you toward Sacconni and Weishaar, if you can get a copy of each. I photocopied mine, took hours but worth every second.
I use both split and sawn, prefer split because it's bound to be straight where sawn can be a bit off. This helps when working the ends of the violin front. Particulalry helps with bass bars. Otherwise it's up to you to find a good supplier of tonewood.
Melvin G. had an amazing selection of wood last I saw. I get stuff from Andreas Gleissner, mainly because they are very reliable, they can also supply me with a one piece split front, or some wild flamed backs, as well as 'normal stuff', & it's all good quality.
I started with 4 Ashely Isles gouges, they were good enough and still are. I like the old Sorby ones.
A very flat gouge is invaluable for cleaning up scrolls.
You shouldn't need very many tools.
The Pfiel gouges are hard wearing steel, any good make of gouge will do as long as you like and feel comfortable with the handles....so if I had to start over again I'd go for a set of Japanese gouges with short blades and short ball handles, for scrolls. A separate set for the plates. What I ended up doing was collecting many gouges new and old, cutting two inches off the end of the blades, and making some very short scroll gouges. If you can afford to buy em all new, then do so.
Cheers.
Who is Melvin G. ?
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I am going to keep records of impact spectra. I want to have an idea how the temp and humidity effect things. Right now my workshop is in my basement which can get pretty humid during summer even with a dehumidifier. Also reading the strad letter about the effect of humidity in the ct scans regarding density reminded me about it. After all if you are going to take the trouble to measure things why not go all of the way.
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Thanks Anders. "You da man"!
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Has anyone ever charted the effects of humidity and temperature on impact hammer tests?
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Maybe he'll bring it with him to Oberlin for the restoration workshop.
Attics and basements keep the trade in business. Especially long lost guarneris in the new world
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Galamian was reported to have said tha Rabin was his most talented pupil. Erwin Hertel told me stories about his mental issues. Sad case.
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I love these shredding videos. They make me laugh every time.
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Del Gesu in the attic...hopefully it did not spend too much time there otherwise you will be giving John Becker a ton of cash for restoration. Good luck on the appraisal...
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Bizarre scroll on the leduc. As bellini said it looks like a chicken walked over the top. Marvelous in szeryng's hands.
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I think the Wurlitzer shop will have a permanent place as one of the "Camelots" of our business.
He said that the early years of Wurlitzer were indeed a great atmosphere to work. It sounded like Sacconi took Bellini under his wing. What is interesting that under that roof there were many big personalities that under different conditions would have suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen. Somehow it worked, probably never again to be dupicated.
Bellini said that he had a chance to spend some extended time with the Lord Wilton Guarneri. I think he said that it had a strange bass bar in it. That lead to his conversion from a Strad man to one who appreciated the Guarneris. He showed me the photographs that he works from given to him by Pollens. We compared those to the Biddulph del Gesu book and the color was not accurate in the book. This was due to the lack of proper color correction by the printer.
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And then there are those who are REALLY good at this
Marco Coppriardi for one.
I understand that Luiz Bellini is, but I have not seen his work.
on we go,
Joe
I spent an afternoon with bellini yesterday. It was awesome. He had just finished a Lord Wilton copy. That violin was awesome. After a few decades wear and tear it might come closer to the original as the varnish had a newness to it. For a violin only five days old the violin was great sounding.
For a 75 year old man he is still passionate and loving his work. The amount of detail in his copy was astounding. He was pretty open about some of his techniques.
It was also fascinating hearing stories about sacconi, wurlitzers and francais. Hearing him talk about milstein, heifetz, szeryng, etc was also fun. I should put a post up about my visit. I felt privileged to have shared an afternoon with him.
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So my summary at this point would be great reflectivity, bad refractive index. But that one top layer looks great. In my opinion, that's not enough, and there are other non-water-soluble choices that give similar sparkle with more depth.
Care to share what the other choices would be? Pretty please?
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Also, I have a small cnc machine that I bought in order to rough out scrolls and violin backs for me.
Would you mind sharing which cnc machine?
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Not at all, I have wondered about this point.
I'm guessing that the "straight across platform" is there to ward off physical plate distortion - and that, properly done, there is not a tonal penalty.
Originally I was taught to follow the blocks around, then I tried the straight line method, and I liked what it did for the plate. Now, for what it's worth, I incorporate a compound curve that is somewhere in between the two.
Then, the bridge area comes under suspicion, which is where thickness, arch and stiffness (properly split and quartered wood) come into play. Those three points are key stress points in my point of view - in particular, for some time down the road.
That's my guess.
As far as your bass bar question goes - I agree, there are decisions to be made there also.
I like your thinking on this one. At one point I would not have bought into the straight across method. In my mind I have been trying to visualize the effects of more thickness in these areas. It must have some effect...depends on how much as the block extending would add stiffness in these areas anyway. After seeing the Strad 3D video I am now hesitant to leave any more thickness around the f holes. I am rethinking my "Little Red Books". Sounds like another topic is in order
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I have purchased and cooked my varnish in the past (can you say exothermic reaction?). I am considering "cooking" again but wanted to explore opinions on bought varnish.
Any one have opinions on Joe Robson's? Hammerl (JOHA)? Imprimatura Dorata (Magister Varnish)?
Before anyone gets hot and bothered, I realize that each has it's own system and one needs to buy into that system.
To be quite honest I want to keep it simple. I am thinking that I would like to purchase at the very least something resembling the mastic varnish as proposed by Gary Baese using my own sealer and ground. Despite the support of some, I am not convinced of linseed as a basis for a ground varnish unless it was high resin low oil version (short). Fat over lean also works for me.
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I resemble these comments
My students do this all of the time...sometimes with undesired results -
What solvents and ratio of solid to liquid for each? I would think this would be somewhat important.
Repost for ideas? Solvent referrs to the original posts where shellac was being compared.
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is what NOT to do or what to avoid in my own making.
Bruce
Funny you should mention that. Even though I have a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting, I learned most by watching conductors closely and making mental notes about what not to do and once in a while what to do!
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Looking at the price, 350 + 30 Euro to ship to the US, surely is pricey.
I feel like I should get a 90% discount for having written a lot about the same subject and making it freely available
All jokes aside, your overwhelmingly positive comments have convinced me to bite the bullet.
And I found a video link about the book:
http://www.servingaudio.com/eshop/Books/Stradivari-Varnish.html
I am blown away by the wealth of information. That's it. I am getting it right now.
Even though the person in the video does not quite know when to say less the video is a great look into the book.
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Happy BDay to the Snake Fiddle Man!
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Saw this video. All I can say it is a must see for many reasons. You won't regret it.
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There have been few books written about Stradivari or Cremonese makers for that matter that have information that even approaches useful. Many makers or repairmen do not take the time to write a book. Either makers are protecting their "secrets" or their information is passed verbally to apprentices. When the "Secrets of Stradivari" came out, even with it's shortcomings it was the best we had in terms of a written record created by a man that had the privledge of seeing many great antique instruments. I asked Hans Nebel what he thought about the work and he said good book but forget the chapter on varnish.
As with posts on this forum I have learned to take everything I read with a grain of salt or even possibly sugar...It is easy to believe someone's dogma especially if you are an "expert" or eloquent in your posts. David Burgess and Jeffery Holmes post here but where are Zig, Curtain, John Becker, Rene Morel, etc.? I would suspect that they are too busy working, stay away from this forum for ethical reasons, don't "do" the internet thing, or are posting or reading secretly...
Does one person know everything? Didn't Einstein fail to construct the unified field theory? Does that mean that his theories of relativity are wrong or incomplete? Only time will tell until the next Einstein comes along...
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Some years ago I tried a burgess violin that had the most overt rippling that I have seen to date. It was wild!
My students do this all of the time...sometimes with undesired results 
Octaves-does anyone play them in tune?
in The Fingerboard
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For better octaves, focus more on the lower note. Adjust the distance between the fingers with your first finger not the 4th. Light finger pressure also helps.