TimRobinson

As an old archivist, the reference to iron gall ink caught my attention. It's acidic and resulted in many old documents becoming lace. Not that the amounts used on a violin are likely to be a problem, or would they? See: https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/ins-outs-iron-gall-ink#:~:text=Why is iron gall ink,the paper brown and brittle. Regards, Tim

Do you know about the Australian Violin Makers Association https://avma.org.au/? Regards, Tim

It would have bite.

Here's a start - just from quick searches and needs more work to ensure accuracy:

“…the one that I had fell asunder…” wonderful.

Would the Roman numerals “iv” indicate this was Gerald Easton’s fourth instrument? Regards, Tim

I can see 6 or 7 cracks - inside must be "interesting". Would I be mistaken in thinking that this was a relatively inexpensive instrument when new? I'm judging by the quality of the wood on the back and neck, and that the top is made up of at least 3 pieces. Of course, none of this means that it does not sound as the OP describes. Tim

Is the top made from multiple pieces, ie more than 2? Tim

Rust is a bit of an issue, but nothing like you guys experience. Salt on the roads isn't something that needs to be done in Oz :-) My Datto is a total restoration job and there's a lot to do. Here's a recent pic of a club outing if you need a nostalgia fix:

I have worked in freedom of information for over 30 years and if you frame the question well, it can produce a much more than reasonable decision in response to an application. In framing the question you need to point to the relevant jurisdiction and act, the speed of the response is breathtaking. As I said in an earlier post, GIGA, but given the right resources I see very few limitations of AI in the law and allied fields. On a lighter note, a few months ago I asked it for a history of Datsun sports cars (I have a '68 2000 Sports), the response was impressive and even covered the fairly obscure early 1500s.

I have, and will continue to, use ChatGPT in my work - it's a really good tool and like any tool, its usefulness depends on who is using it. That said, wise counsel from a colleague was to treat it as advice from a drunk friend at a bar, full of earnest confidence but... This will change and as with all IT since the start, GIGO applies, but this can be fixed. For first drafts of many documents it saves much time, particularly for structure. All its "facts" need checking and the lack of references is currently a drawback. However, over time AI is going to be hugely disruptive to many professions, if I were a young lawyer I'd get on top of it now. Luddites might stick their heads in the sand (to mix metaphors) but this isn't going away. Look at what many sensible schools and universities are doing to incorporate the new technology in their teaching.

When I ran an archives every week we'd calibrate the hygrothermographs in the repository with a sling psychrometer. Very old school, the hygrothermographs are clockwork and Swiss-made if I remember correctly. Bloody accurate and beat the proverbial out of electronic ones and had the great advantage of continuing to work if the power went out, which was just when you needed to know the temp and RH changes as the a/c would go out at the same time.

Olaf Grawert, aka Olaf the violinmaker, has a recent video on trying to improve a $100 supermarket violin:

Wednesday's cello from the original TV series? Tim