Michael Szyper

Goodbye Mike.

all of our statements cry for a blind test

did you experience or assume this? Here in Munich are quite a few well respected luthiers who make the boards without scoop at all on the e, and almost no scoop on e. At least with the boards i did without scoop and pirazzi golds i was not able to produce buzzing. On the other hand it makes double stop intonation easier.

Talking to Attila Pasztor at the Mondomusica, he described them quite similar to the pirazzi golds. Will try.

Leave only the tip sharp and dull the rest a bit, prevents a lot of mess.

You should be careful when applying it with water. This task requires tons of skill in order to make it look right. Combining it with varnish as suggested by Jackson is a bit more wasteful, but very easy to control.

I asked you once for knives a few month ago, but you didn't make them then. If you are about to make knives, I would buy a whole set. Let me know.

Hopefully there will be pm v11 knives. I can’t imagine a better steel in most violin making tasks.

how do you guys feel about doing a peg hole bushing for stability?

Especially at the beginning of a career the build quality should improve quite a lot, but after a decade or two the rising prices are usually determined by the growing popularity rather than insanely increasing quality.

Good question, but I would consider to get the best value at 1990-new.

Since you are a player and are looking for the best sound/playability at a given price point, you should probably go with a modern instrument. I don't know the US market, but in Europe for around 15000$ you should get about any sound you desire, you just need to try long enough. 10000$ is a way more difficul price point to get an instrument which satisfies you in every aspect. But I am sure that with plenty of playing (and comparing!) you should be able to find a quite good fit. Maybe the American makers could give an advice about the price point, in Germany I would recommend at least to try instruments at a slightly higher price point.

I have no experience with spirit varnish besides retouching which is a totally different story. Nevertheless varnishing concepts do not differ that much. Never ever stain spruce, seal it until it does not soak up any more varnish until you switch to the color coat. Same applies to the scroll. To some extent to the rest. Apply 20-30 uniform coats for color. Wait long enough between coats. The color shouldn’t be neither red nor brown.

Spruce seems burned, this is hard to undo. Don’t strip an do a completely different concept on the next one. Maybe under the supervision of a good varnisher.

So hard to tell. It is simply a zillion of possibilities to screw it up and few to make it right. Just to name one: At the Vsa I saw a violin with opaque and rather thick varnish and I loved it. Generally I think that there has to be a clear visible idea behind the work. The more randomness, the lesser appealing it is to my eye.

No matter if amateur or pro, the easiest way for me to get an impression is to look at the varnish, corners and f hole fluting.

If you want red flames, transparent pigments do a great job.

in good setup case, afterlength is a result and not a goal. Tuning of the afterlength strings is the least thing to worry about if your goal is good setup and not messing around.

if you know where to go it may take 3 attempts to reach the goal, if you don’t know the directions you might still fail at attempt no 1000. I see what you want to tell, but making ugly bridges after 100 attempts shows just the lack of a clear vision what a good bridge is.

do you know shops in the us which redo the setup on a regular basis?

Couldn’t agree more.

It is not visible if you don’t look for it.

Keep in mind that in the old stuff you don’t see winter growth on maple at all, just compare dons picture. IMO this detail rules out heat treatment and alkalis for color as the only color source in the wood.

The back density is something that I would love to know.

It might sound excellent, but I am wondering if she would say it in public if this wasn’t the case. Players and dealers are dependent to some degree…