nathan slobodkin

Rene Morel used watercolor very sparingly usually where there was discolored wood or a crack that could not be adequately cleaned. He never painted over an area or a crack but applied pin prick dots to “break up” the line of the crack before doing his regular retouch.

This begs a question I have been thinking about regarding sound post function. With different diameter posts does the actual foot print matter or is it the stiffness of the post? In particular can one take a light file swipe around the edge to kill the sharpness and facilitate adjustment or will that slight difference in the footprint make it act like a thinner post.

So….. I think I found my culprit. Some time ago I had asked advice about buying fine powdered rosin and ended up going to a sporting goods store and buying a rosin bag such as used by baseball pitchers. It isn’t rosin!! There is something else in there and that was causing the problem. Unfortunately modern businesses have no qualms about mislabeling their products. Not long ago I bought a “boxwood burnisher” from an art supply house which turned out to be made of poplar!

Pelikan from Germany.

Brian, You need to get a grinder, There is no way you can maintain your tools properly, and certainly not prepare new ones without it. A basic grinder running at 1750 RPM and some kind of cool working, friable wheel coupled with a Veritas or other quality tool rest will cost less than$400 and last a life time. Check back once you get one and ask for specific guidance on shapes and sharpening.

While theoretically preventing cracks in the extreme ends of the plates the purfling in fact weakens the edge. Obviously the depth of the channel and the care in fitting and gluing affect this but I don’t think placement has much to do with it. The OP’s instrument with the very abrupt edge is a style used by some (Czech/German ?) makers, I believe mostly in the early 20th century. I don’t see many people using that today. I personally decide how wide the ends of the corners will be then adjust the purfling placement to allow the inlay to meet where it allows the type of bee sting, hook or mitre which I want to use on that model. As far as over hang I want at least a small flat before the rounding of the edge begins to allow solid regluing as the plates shrink and swell over time.

Nonsense. The purfling goes where ever you put it. Most makers like to balance the position and width of the purfling so they can place the crest of the edge work in a way that looks nice and the points of the purfling wind up an appropriate distance from the ends of the corners. The overhang of the edge is a completely seperate issue. More over hang looks stronger or heavier, lessens the need for perfection in execution and allows much easier regluing over time. Small overhangs demonstrate your craftsmanship ( or not), make the instrument look lighter and more refined but tend to make repairs more difficult.

Interesting thought. Friedemann implied the instrument had been here longer but I will ask why he believes that to be so.

Going once, going twice…. No info?

This is what I suspect. Do you know of any way to remove silicone? I am afraid of having that stuff in my shop because it can wreak havoc with varnishing.

Finally. I appreciate the confirmation that I am not the only one. I will try the wetting with alcohol and rosining while still damp. I may also try making a solution of rosin in alcohol and applying the solution and letting it dry. A colleague who had a large rental fleet recommended that years ago simply as a time saver but I had forgotten. Thanks for the comments. I will report the results.

And not unheard of that the player drops the violin when they do.

As I said I have been rosining bows for 64 years, rehairing and making them for 50. Yes it’s horse hair. No,I am not soaking the hair in alcohol just wiping it off with 200 proof lab alcohol to clean it as I do after any of my own rehairs to remove any skin oil from handling the hair. The last time this happened was a shipment of two bows from the same supplier. One accepted rosin perfectly the other not at all. Since one of the suppliers I spoke to about this had heard or seen this before I don’t think it is happening in my shop. He mentioned the word waxed and I am wondering if a wipe with naphtha or acetone might solve the problem and know of one colleague who does, or at least did, use acetone after rehairs. However I worry that harsher chemicals might damage the hair in some way. This is truly driving me nuts as I certainly can’t rehair every cheap bow that I sell or use for rentals. Serious or helpful comments welcomed others not so much.

Oh No! This is horrible news! I just saw him at the Federation meeting and he looked good.