donbarzino
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Posts posted by donbarzino
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I was interested in playing violin and bought an inexpensive one from an ad in the newspaper.
It needed some work and when I took it to a music store they told me it was a piece of junk and
not worth the cost of repairs needed. I borrowed the Heron Allen book from the library, read it
and repaired my violin. When I brought my violin back to the music store to buy strings they looked
at my work and offered me a job. I learned a lot working there part time but my other part time job
as a motorcycle mechanic paid a much higher wage. I kept both jobs through college working at
several different music stores and motorcycle shops and ended up owning a Harley repair shop.
Unfortunately my employees joined a large and violent motorcycle gang and my shop became
a hangout featuring daily fights, shootings, ect . After repeatedly fearing for my life, I realized
that violinists are seldom tough guys, except for David Burgess, with no violin gang activities at all and
this pushed me to sell my shop and go into violin repair.
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7 hours ago, nathan slobodkin said:In what way would higher ribs stiffen the box? I would intuit just the opposite.
6 hours ago, Davide Sora said:I think it is similar to a beam, the thicker it is, the more it resists bending.
I believe that higher ribs are more flexible, not as a beam, but when flexed crosswise.
Only the lowest modes seem to try to bend the whole rib set as a beam.
Most higher modes seem to flex the ribs crosswise and in limited areas.
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The problem with both nails and screws in this application is that you are going into the end grain of the neck
which presents less resistance to splitting and withdrawl .
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I would look at those marks as an asset for they reveal the edges of your cut and any
nearby high spots as you work.
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Michael Darnton has written an excellent essay on this subject.
http://www.darntonviolins.com/violinmagazine/book/UnderstandingTone.pdf
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18 hours ago, shocker828 said:v heard of the sand method. How do you do this without the sand just vibrating right off the surface given all the curvature?
The plates being tested are removed from the rest of the violin and placed upside down with the sand placed on the
inside so if anything it tends to accumulate in the center.
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I can understand the desirability of the part of the plane sole in front of the blade being flat but
once the blade, projecting below the sole, has taken its cut the stock upon which the rear portion of the sole will rest
is reduced and no longer aligned with the yet to be planed portion of the stock ahead of the plane and blade.
So the plane as it works is riding on a bi-level surface and a flat sole will not match this, rather the most
rearward part of the plane will be the only part of the plane sole aft of the blade to touch the stock being planed.
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The glue joint between the bass bar and the top plate has probably partially let go and just gluing it back could be the
easiest way to fix it.
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I had had success in reforming sound post bumps on double bass tops by
moving the sound post forward so it pushes up directly under the spot where the
bridge foot would normally sit and then moving the bridge back so its
right foot presses
down on the sound post bump and then tightening the strings.
It does take some time for things to even out, like weeks or months,
but the instrument is playable in this condition while it is being
reformed,
albeit with a longer string length. Carefully warming the area with a
heat gun can help speed the process up, just be careful,
watching the varnish for overheating.
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Years ago, I made several instruments following Peluzzi's principles.
It was a lot of tedious extra work and the only difference I observed
in the sound was an undesirable metallic ringing after each note that interfered
with fast playing.
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This style is used for taller saddles to prevent them from torquing forward in response to the pressure
of the tail gut. When the saddle tries to twist forward the lower extension presses against the lower part of the tail gut ,
between the saddle and end pin and prevents any rotation of the saddle.
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What a clever piece of work ! Good for you !
I would say it does need a bass bar under the bass foot of the bridge as the resulting difference in response
between the two sides of the bridge
is a fundamental feature of bowed string instruments. However, between your two cross bars you are
left very little room for much of a bass bar. I would still put one in though and although softwood is
the traditional wood for bass bars you might as well make yours of a hardwood since weight is
an important part of the bass bar and yours is smaller than usual. Just make sure there is some clearance
between the ends of the bass bar and those cross braces so the bar can vibrate freely.
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Sounds like the violin world has become quite materialist, excessively favoring 'lily white' woods like spruce and maple
over other equally deserving 'woods of color'.
We can anticipate the social justice warrior brigade soon promoting an affirmative action program with mandatory quotas in both sales and manufacturing for instruments made of underused 'woods of color' like cedar and walnut.
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You may have lucked into a very rare and special situation where the resonant frequency of the cello's mass
upon the end pin acting as a spring matches the frequency of your vibrato.
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They don't look that badly damaged in the photo.
The geared mechanisms are well protected inside the housings.
I would first try re-engaging the pin into the lever slot.
I've had similar mishaps with mine and always managed to get them working again.
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I leave a number of cellos and basses in an unheated space in a very cold climate every winter and have never had any problems.
I believe the most important thing is slowing the rate of change of temperature and humidity with insulation and low
air infiltration.
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Your problem could be runout , the wood being cut such that the long grain is not parallel
to the surface of the billet. This is why split billets are preferred.
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I just ran across a 2004 article in the Strad about tailpieces influence on tone which cites a 2003
Catgut study which found ' Certain woods (especially snakewood, pernambuco, African blackwood and boxwood)
were judged to cause an increase in volume and positive changes in the clarity and "edginess" of the sound.
Other materials (rosewood, ebony and composite) seem to correspond to hollow, soft, unfocused and unmatched
sounds across strings.'
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It could be interesting if done artfully.
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I have had bass customers who insisted that increasing the string spacing greatly improved their sound.
Compared to the violin, bass and cello do have a rather high bridge and narrow string spacing.
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Technically, moving only one end of the sound post while leaving the opposite end in place cocks the sound post
and ruins its fit to the top and back plates. However if the post was not correctly fit in the first place
any change could be an improvement. I believe the fit of the north edge sound post to the top is most
important as this defines the lever arm distance between the bridge foot and the post as fulcrum.
Moving the top end of the post back away from the bridge insures that the edge of the post closest to
the back of the bridge foot is making good firm contact and this alone an often cause an improvement
in playing and tonal qualities.
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When I started work at a certain large old violin shop I was told tales of the schenanigans my predecessor, Edward
had pulled leading to his dismissal.
Later I discovered a nice old violin in the back room with much of its top smashed away.
Inside of it, among some old 'repaired by' labels, was scrawled "Wrecked by Eddy K. "
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I think the attraction of so called antique finishes is really about complexity.
Straight varnish presents a much smaller number of colors than anything found in nature
and this can become boring to the eye. Perhaps it doesn't really matter how the complex
patinas found on older instruments were achieved but rather how many subtly complex color variations
they present to keep our eyes interested. It just so happens that the wear imposed by use and time
is currently the premier means of achieving the most interesting complexities.
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Back in the 1970's I was a maker of brazed steel racing bicycle frames.
More than one customer confided in me that they just could not bear the pain
of putting the first few nicks and scratches in their pristine painted finish and
asked me to somehow artfully distress it for them in advance to soften and
disguise those inevitable first stark ugly blemishes caused by daily use.
How did you start?
in The Pegbox
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I am very sorry, David, and I have edited my post to now include you.