Andro

I do not know the number of extant violins by Lorenzo Storioni. You'd have to take it to an expert dealer/appraiser. But have a look here, this may be of interest: https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/browse-the-archive/makers/maker/?Maker_ID=720

Do we know much about original baroque violin soundposts, in particular average diameter? Would they have been thinner than today's norm? Do makers of contemporary baroque setup instruments use thinner soundposts? Is the standard today about 6.2-6.4mm?

I guess this is a useful paper on bridge resonance: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871102/ It's not directkly concered with wood species, but I extract from this paper that stiffness of the material is a very important controlling factor, and obvioulsy different wood species will have more or less stiffness.

Hello @JackSchmidling can you give some details about the equipment you are using to determine bridge resonant frequency? That would be of interest. But wouldn't a bridge have many modes of resonance possibly, as it is a rather complex shape? And given that the bridge partly acts as a spectrum filter, how does the resonant frequency come into play in terms of affecting the sound? Speaking from my own experience as a harpsichord maker, I know that a desirable, indeed essential, property of soundboard wood is high cross grain stiffness, leading to very high speed of sound transmission in the wood. Spruce of various types is ideal. I would imagine that the fine quality hard maple that has come to be used for bridges may also have very high speed of sound transmission and so be very responsive to fine detail. Only guessing here about that.

In general, do we know who Stradivari's customers were? Courts, or individual musicians? Would violinists at that time have been able to afford such fine intruments? Are there any pertinent records? I am aware he made some for courts, but what was the main customer base? Question not specifically for Stradivari, but the Cremonese makers in general.

I'm not sure this is totally stupid. I am an adult beginner at the violin and a keyboard player of 50 years standing. I am having some pain in my hands, and also, as a beginner currently without a teacher in these covid times, having trouble keeping my wrist straight. I was in fact thinking of using some sort of glove for pain relief and training my hands and wrist for violin, so different to keyboard, including considering one of the longer wrist supports with a metal splint in it. I know this sounds like utter heresy, but I see this sort of thing as similar to training wheels on a bicycle. Sometimes a beginner needs help to set correct position and I see no objection to this glove, even though it's just a slightly formally dressed bicycle glove. I am actually quite interested to try it.

Well you could do worse than hear the sublime Rachel Podger's recording, Bach - Complete Partitas and Sonatas for Violin Solo, on Channel Classics [not sure if it is against board policy to post a link to where you can obtain this.] I understand that while she used to play a Strad she now uses a Pesarini from 1739 in Genoa https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Podger-Rachel.htm Superb playing in any case. I'm pretty sure she uses the Baroque instrument on that. but I will have to search my shelves. I am assuming that Genoa is far enough away from Cremona for you! :-)

I thought some may be incorrectly done? This article suggests it goes on the back (facing the tailpiece) but also mentions there is a difference of opinion: The violin making manual - Bridge (makingtheviolin.com)

Which way should the violin bridge stamp face? I see various photos showing different sides. Isn't this quite important?

Microchips for pets are just tiny RFID devices. They respond to radio frequency with a unique number. That's all. The number can show it's your dog or cat, and there are registries of numbers so a found animal can be returned to its owner. They are not trackers. I cant see any value in that for a violin - a set of photos and documentation would equally prove it is yours. If, as others have assumed, you are referring to a location tracker, the power requirements are too high, battery life to short, and the devices too bulky to consider. There are trackers for cases that alos have temperature and humidity remote sensors, but they are indeed bulky and in the case of theft I cant see the point as you can just open the case and dispose of the unit. There's also a thread over here on this topic: https://www.violinist.com/discussion/archive/24612/

Proving your tortoiseshell predates the CITES bans is difficult, and documentation scarce no doubt, and then subject to judgement and interpretation by officials. I believe when travelling between countries that having a tortoiseshell bow in your case it can be seized, depending on the country. It seems hardly worth the risk. I used to make harpsichords and I was lucky way back when to obtain tortoiseshell to make keyboards the same as Hass on 18c Germany did. It's a wonderful material, and has interesting thermoplastic properties (hence why it was used to make glasses). Beautiful though it may be, I think there are other choices for bow frogs etc that are more practical and less troublesome now. I can tell you there is still black market trade in illegal tortoiseshell, but personally I would not go near that. This is why, sadly, despite the bans, turtles are still being killed for their shell. Even if you found a cache of old, thick shell for frogs, would you truly want to use it? On CITES, last year I tried to get a 19c English flute with ivory rings into Australia. My flute restorer and I researched at both ends and the paperwork and proof and documentation and sheer expense to try to get it here was so burdensome and prohibitive we simply abandoned. And even instruments with modern artifical ivory are regarded with suspicion by customs officels who are not trained to correctly identify such. The same applies to tortoiseshell. If it's staying put in one country then it is not such a problem I suppose.

After waiting a few weeks for the post, the humidifier and hyrgometer arrived. I am delighted to say that the hygrometer agrees with my best accurate one to within 4% or so, and similarly for the thermometer. Hygrometers outside of laboratory instruments are notoriously inaccurate, and can even be out 20-30% (I can show you a few!). So I am deligthed. I'll see how it goes in the case down under here in very dry Australia.

Have you checked out the vast database of tunes on https://thesession.org/ ? You can easily transcribe for cello.

@Don Noon what instrumentation are you using to obtain your frequency measurements?

Anybody use the Stretto humidifier system? The website is extraordinarily uninformative. The humidifying bags - do you have to replace every few weeks or can they simple be moistened again and reused. This is not mentioned on the site. And the Stretto hygrometer? Is is reasonable accurate? I am aware that hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate and have large variation in readings.