sospiri

https://www.ebay.com/sch/Violins/38107/m.html?item=362137942733&_ssn=music-1982 I'm assuming they do sound fine. I would be surprised if they didn't because these Chinese workshops use good quality tonewood and employ fantastically skilled workers who have been trained in traditional ways using very sharp tools. The varnish will be quickly applied spirit varnish, even if they claim it's oil varnish. So they also offer violins in the white which you can varnish with slow drying oil. The same deals were offered in catalogues of old. In other words nothing much has changed in the violin market for more than 100 years except the location of such outlets and the introduction of internet trading.

What next? Female construction workers???

I don't normally hear voices in my head, but as I was scrolling down looking at the photos I heard Brian Moore shout.....

Porterfield

I disagree Torbjörn, it's quite good, not bad anyway, apart from the scroll which doesn't have Strad's beautiful sense of proportion. I'm not joking either. I think it's a good Chinese copy. Does anyone here really think it's not a recent copy? And if so, why? This thread is a bit strange. The violin world is very strange. But mostly in a good way.

You google a word and find out the name of something you have been seeing all your life but didn't know what it was called.

Agreed. The back looks like Mirecourt maple to me too. All the evidence suggests to me that Jacob was right all along and the "big dogs" are all bark and no bite except maybe their fee? OUCH! I do like the lining and block work though. Another example of very nice 'French Cornerblockology'.

I found it strangely mesmeric despite the awful playing and sounds. But I think he should stick to the church organ. This weird invention needs a name. Because it sound like three horns of different sizes I propose Cacophonium.

I managed 3 minutes and 22 seconds. Anyone beat that?

That's a very expensive pile of dust in the shape of a violin.. No wonder they don't want to post it. And they have no idea who made it or when.

Gene expression. Thermoregulation. The ripples absorb and radiate heat from the sun. So if you want to know where to find it. There's your clue.

Well as far as I can see, he's standing in the auction room photographing the violin to get opinions on whether or not it's a genuine Pedrazzini? And what you see in the background is not the OPs furniture, but another lot in the auction. Anyway, he's got the answers he was looking for.

Of course it can. They just carved the arching by eye and by feel. They didn't overthink it. A few quick measurements here and there to make sure would be all that was needed.

When some clever French guy studied Stradivari's secret coded measurements and decided to come up with the metre in the 1790s.

I tried to work out how much linseed oil Stradivari was applying based on the results of Echard, who found 70-100 microns of oil in the wood. I guess it will be more in the belly and back and less in the neck? It doesn't sound much, no more than .1 mm, but over surface of the belly it's more than a few drops. Because the surface area is about 500 cm2 500 cm2 x 100 microns = 500 x .01 cm = 5 ml So how much of that 5ml is spruce and how much is oil? I didn't bother to calculate that I just guessed. So my last method was: 3 ml in applied in two coats. The first about 2 ml rubben all over with the fingers. Next day I used a fan heater for about 20 seconds, to bring the unthickened oil to the surface and repeated the rubbing. Repeated the heating and rubbing for a few days until no more oil appeared and the surface was what I suppose is oxidised and polymerised. Then repeated the process with another 1 ml of oil. I weighed the belly throughout the process and I should have weighed others too as a conrol to estimate humidity changes. But I reckoned the weight gain to be 2 grams. My primary concern is the effect on tone and playability. Looks are important but a secondary concern.