apartmentluthier

Sad to hear this. Thank you CT for your wonderful contributions over the years. Magicians have a "Broken Wand" ceremony after the passing of a colleague. Perhaps a 'Broken Bow' would be fitting.

I believe this would have been his "shop adjusted" violin. Bought in the white and varnished, etc.

These plans originally came from Voight and Geiger in the mid thirties. Drawn by Leroy Geiger. Roth must have obtained them.

An awkward long pause . . . followed by swallowing hard and saying, don't worry about it, accidents happen.

Will, there were roughly ten Rashid instruments with cypress tops. He replaced a good number of them on the earlier instruments, for what I suspect to be tonal reasons. I think a few did survive intact on later instruments. I believe there is one cedar top violin as well. I have an unused cedar top he received from a luthier friend that is dark chocolate color and smells wonderful.

If a "top soloist" is able tell the difference between old and new, then they naturally would approach the market for an instrument accordingly. If they can't, then they are free to chose whatever. Seems like everybody wins. Why such a bone of contention?

Curious to know if anyone has tried this. Amazing solvent dissolves waterbased glues! A labor-saving way to strip old dried hide glue, Titebond® or white glue from neck joint surfaces, fingerboards and bridges before regluing. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Glues,_adhesives/Wood_glue/De-Glue_Goo.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=286275

You hit the nail on the head! I wonder if it was with a cool vintage hammer adorned with . . .

Great thread Berl. I had been thinking along the same lines recently. A virtual museum of violin makers tools would be neat.

Michael, I think the ads shown are related to your surfing habits. Try searching for "tone wood" instead of just wood.

Sorry about the bad pics. This is mastic varnish made in 2011 per the Herron-Allen book. I used it on a turn of the century American fiddle that someone had stripped bare. It's supple and remains sensitive to solvents. This version is very thin, brushes nicely, and dried well for me. First batch didn't. After following Michael's recommendations regarding heat and UV exposure, it worked well. It does improve with age. The Herron-Allen text states to not even use it for 8 months as I recall.

La La Land may refer to: A euphemism for a state of unconsciousness You clearly missed both the both reference and the humor intended. La La Land is NOT only a reference to LA. I simply thought that the location listed by the poster was funny. I was in no way making an attempt to insult any of the fine shops or persons you listed in your rant. Interesting that you call me a fakir when my identity is available to anyone, yet you appear to be a hiding troll.

And who is "GoldenPlate" to say so? Last time I checked, no experts of note came from LaLa Land.

Photo from South Kensington Museum Catalogue of the special exhibition of ancient musical instruments, 1872 , South Kensington Museum. Fittings are there, and Vuillaume was arranging this exhibition.