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Interesting! Would you mind to ask the repairer if he/she picked up the idea from my article in the Strad a few years ago? Cheers!
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Well, if you think about it, much in violin acoustics seems so complicated because tonal adjustments can’t be made in chosen specific regions of the spectrum.
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Yes, after a zillion test drillings to figure out the way to do it.
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Carbon rod reinforced bridges erase this problem forever.
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Hi Mike, I thought you were talking about varnish meaning the layers on top of the ground. ——- For the ground, the Cremonese recipe was quite wear resistant. I am not really on top of the latest discussions. Its a different formula than the color varnish and penetrated the wood very well. Additionally it enhances the reflection and seemed to imitate color of pure gold. Both characteristics together enabled makers to use a rather thin varnish with a rather low density of pigments because the ground would somehow intensify the colors. (Part of its magic IMO) Especially what concerns the color of the ground I am convinced that it had to do with wood treatment so that makers didn’t start with white wood. I also believe that sun tanning wasn’t done for the same reason. Only the varnish needed sun light (presumably only short time) to solidify quicker. (That’s all my personal interpretation and maybe other MN members will contradict) —————- What I understand somehow from chemistry is that cooking processes bond ingredients together and this in turn is desirable for more toughness. From the 18th century on (or maybe even earlier?) there was a whole industry of carriage varnish makers working with the most wear resistant resins (mostly hard copal) by cooking oil and resin together.
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Old masters violins with original table thickness and bassbar
Andreas Preuss replied to lorenzo fossati's topic in The Pegbox
Those untouched instruments have never been opened. To get ideas about bass bars just try different types on one and the same instrument and keep good references either as recording or as FFT graph or both. -
With a proportion of almost 1:1 for linseed oil and rosin I would expect a varnish which is not very hard though it should get ‘touch dry’ after 3 days, the time linseed oil needs to solidify. Altogether, I’d expect a varnish which is not very wear resistant. Somehow I find it an interesting idea because Cremonese varnish must have been very brittle (not wear resistant) and the ‘cold fusion’ receipe promises exactly this characteristic (or: maybe better than cook-mixed receipes) I would be quite curious to see a test on a bigger wooden surface and how wear can be applied and looks like when the varnish is very thin. You might also try to dissolve the cooked resin in the absolute minimum of turpentine to make a honey like liquid and then make it brushable with the right amount of linseed oil. (Which would be very similar to the system of Koen Padding)
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I always erase the pencil lines to do the final touch. In the end it is about what you see with your eyes and not where is a more or less precise line ‘on the map’.
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Pretty suspicious. Which maker would get the idea to print labels where the years are printed to the last digit? (Failed attempt of mass production?) Anyway I would try to contact a violin maker in Bologna and ask about Carlo Pollastri.
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Just a note on willow. Willow covers many different species and there is a great variation in their properties. There is for example diamond willow which is pretty much as hard as maple. If it is used for its lightness white willow seems to be best, however black poplar or balsam poplar are even lighter. (And also usable for linings)
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Years ago I got hold of a hundred year old piece of soap which is still my favourite peg dope. It seems that the soap gradually ‘waxified’ making a blend of stickiness and lubrication without using chalk or only very little chalk. Maybe one could imitate it by melting soap and a sticky wax together. However, in future I think gear pegs are a superior solution to traditional pegs. They will never widen the holes and make fine tuners unnecessary. They also prevent A peg cracks. The additional weight (compared to traditional pegs) has no measurable influence on the sound.
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Thank you for your help in advance for Violin Identification
Andreas Preuss replied to Faren4511's topic in The Pegbox
How do you know? -
15 - 194.1 So here is the neck for the New Concept Violin. I am using a graft to use lighter wood for the neck. Here I am using Japanese willow.(Next time I might try Paulowina) For stability it is reinforced with light plywood A Pyramide neck graft is the most elegant solution for a graft and I hope this will be respected by repairers in the future. However I made in the past month quite extensive experiments with surface treatments of light and porous wood. I hope that my formula will prevent wear better than on traditional necks making a graft necessary only in the (very) far future.
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Often I think some people get hypnotised by ‘Stradivari’. (Whatever this word means to them) I prefer to make MY OWN and original violins with their OWN typical sound. In the art world artists replicate old masters such as Rembrandt only as exercises only to develop further their own ideas eventually landing at new and fresh fascinating visual ideas.
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It’s so easy!