David Tseng

I have an electrostatic air filter beside the furnace and a portable air cleaner in the varnishing room. I don't seem to have any dust problem after giving up brush and using a cloth pad for varnishing.

I also use 12mm on my new violins. I avoid drilling too big holes on the pegbox and give the pegs more longevity.

Many years ago, I did sell some of my violins to a teacher (who happened to be my relative). How did she sell these violins to her students was not my problem. When some of them contacted me, I did know that she had 100% mark up. Nowadays I only do commissioned work. Since this thread is about how to sell instruments, I would like to point this out: makers here should not ignore the Asian market. Parents there would spend $5K-8K for a child's violin. I know an LA based maker who almost exclusively sells his productions in Taiwan.

The aluminum foil is to reflect more light and heat out. The other big lamp (not shown) also has Al foil in the shade. I use this lamp to keep the wood warm while applying glue.

I just strung up a new violin and , in few more days, it will be delivered to the customer.

I am on the wood treatment camp for some 20 years, but I am still quietly doing my homework.

I received the membership renewal notice today. My membership was renewed on June 11, 2010 for TWO years. It's really disturbing to receive this letter. This is a manifestation that the new administration is not doing good job. Are there any maestroneters here receiving such notice?

I finish the neck with oil. I also use oil to seal top and back based on the French research result with no ill effect. This has to be done carefully not to let oil penetrate more than one to two cell depth.

I have a piece of pernambuco 28mm x 88 mm by 43 inches long, not for bow making. PM me if you are interested.

One gold and two silvers, i.e., only 3 out of 238 met the players requirement. Good violins are indeed very rare.

I noticed that Kaler played the last measure (A - F#) on 1st position, which is more often played sul G.

There are 2 things we have to address here, i.e. the feel of the neck and the string length. In some old factory violins, the pegbox chin is way too long. Also the thumb stop at the neck heel is important when you play at the high positions. We try to "standardize" the neck shape and the string length to facilitate switching instruments.

Thanks, you are right, 1.33 micron!

40x30=1,200 um or 1.2mm. Strad varnish is very thin; he probably used sfumato technique.

The minerals should be applied in solutions so the reaction/precipitation occur in situ in the wood. David Rubio did use powders and also pot. sil. solution.

I did a little math: hotel $700, air ticket 700, VSA membership 160, convention fees 220, meals 250. I am thinking to stay home. I have a $2,000 new bed at home; why would I need to pay $110 per night to sleep on that grand old public bed in Cleveland. Don't worry, there are plenty of aliens who are loaded with greenbacks will attend the convention. I have been saying for a long time that VSA should eliminate the workmanship judging and concentrate the available resources to hire 6 distinguished violinists to be judges. VSA is no longer managed by voulnteers. It's a commercially managed corporation; such change is reflected in the drastic increase in membership fee. This was probably the last time I renewed my membership. I think it's time to organize another ad hoc group.

I got all correct also. We are so used to Strad and GDG sounds from listening in the concerts and recordings. I like Vuillaume violin very much also, partly because I listened to Kreutzer 42 Etudes recording very often which was played on a Vuillaume violin. In my opinion, the #4 is good for jazz. I remember in Anders Buen's post "hearing is believing", quite a few people picked that rickety balsa violin sound to be Cremonese!

Due to wide-spread hearing loss in the high frequency range in the general population, brilliant sounding violins are preferred by the audiences as well as players. In 2004 VSA in Portland, the only gold medal winner was Fen Jiang's violin, which was by far not meeting Dunnwalds criteria. Also the brilliant sounding violins were probably more suited to that particular quartet player judges. In my experience, to produce an instrument with stronger A0, it is desirable to select spruce having RR at least 15.5 or higher. Again this is not a sufficient but necessary condition.

Some one in China made an over-head flight violin case for me, but I decided to make my own by removing the accessory compartment of an old paper case. If you need this kind of case for carrying violin only (no bow). PM me and I'll pass on the contact info to you. It's a carbon fiber shaped case with suspension.

I have shipped many violins to Asia and so far have no problem. A new client needs to have a reference from my old client or someone I know. No pre-payment is required. I ship by air-cargo using styrofoam box with instrument fully setup. I don't do business in Indonesia and Nigeria.

In 2008 convention, Marilyn Wallin brought the dog with her. If you bring Murphy, he would immediately become a celebrity. Check with Renaissance Hotel if they allow pet.

The competition instruments can be taken out from 11PM Friday and Saturday morning. There is not much chance to see all the instruments on Saturday morning. The convention is on Nov. 7 to 12th.

The competition instruments room will be open from Friday afternoon to mid-night. The winners lists will be available after the banquet. You can buy day-pass at the registration table which open every day during the convention. The reasons I go to the convention are: 1. to socialize with people; 2. buy some supply; 3. attend some interesting lectures; 4. enjoy concert and banquet. I don't think I could learn any thing from others work. (I am not going to listen to people say edge should be shaped like this and corner like that, varnish like... Violin is a musical instrument. The only thing that matters is the acoustics.)

Nice caliper for $24.49. I wonder if they have metric one.