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Showing results for tags 'Fingerboard'.
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I recently got the nut changed but the G string is closer to the edge of the fingerboard compared to the E string. Does it look okay?
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Hello there, Recently; I noticed that the fingerboard on my instrument has developed significant wear and tear; affecting both playability and tone. As I am quite attached to this violin; I am eager to explore options for restoring it to its former glory. What material would be best suited for a replacement fingerboard? I have heard ebony is traditional; but are there other materials worth considering for tonal or durability reasons? How crucial is it to find a skilled luthier for this task? I want to en;sure that the replacement fingerboard is expertly crafted and prop;erly fitted to my violin. What should I expect in terms of cost for a fingerboard replacement? Are there any factors that might influence the price significantly? How long does the process typically take from start to finish? I am hopi;ng to minimize the time my violin is out of commission. Are there any special consid;erations or maintenance routines I should be aware of after the replacement is completed? I want to ensure the longevity of both the fingerboard and the violin as a whole. Also, I have gone through this: https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/358410-violin-id-and-neck-repair-uipath-please-help-/ Additionally; if anyone has personal experiences or recommendations they would like to share regarding fingerboard replacements; I would greatly appreciate any insights you can offer. Thank you in advance for your help and advice.
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I just got a new bridge for my Montagnana cello yesterday and I'm finding out that the height between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge is 7.5mm at the A string and 10mm at the C string. I have Jargar medium gauge strings on the A and D and Spirocore, tungsten wound (also medium gauge) on the G and C. Aside from the string height, the my cello sounds much more beautiful with the new bridge and the only problem is the facility to play it. Should I bring it back to the guy who worked on my cello or just learn to live with the high strings?
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Good morning. Some time ago I had an old German copy Stradivari violin, which is well made, but all its accessories (pegs, fingerboard, tailpiece) were plastic and of poor quality, in addition to having a poorly adjusted sound post and a poorly made bridge. The sound of the violin was very loud and strident, like an old radio and in my orchestra it was the violin that stood out the most, to the point that my joking companions called it "il cannone". This Christmas an old luthier friend who lives more than 1000km away came to town to spend Christmas with his family and I immediately asked him to adjust my violin. As I mentioned earlier, the violin has a strong, deep sound, but with some small parasitic vibrations that caused it to sound like an old radio blaring, and I blamed this on poor quality accessories and poor sound post setup. and the bridge. He added ebony parts to the pegs, chin rest, tailpiece and fingerboard, since the ones that the instrument had were not original, they were made of poor quality wood painted black, added shortly before I acquired the instrument. The pegs were also painted and poorly adjusted, the tailpiece was plastic. He added an ebony fingerboard that he recycled from a cello fingerboard, ebony pegs set to perfection, a bridge that fully fits the top of the violin, and an ebony tailpiece. When I saw the instrument I was surprised, especially by the fingerboard, which had a tiny and old flame that matches the flame of the violin. When you finally play the instrument notice the change in sound. It still sounded loud, but it no longer had those annoying parasitic vibrations, instead it now sounded round and warm, but the A string did have a decrease in its sound, being very muted compared to the rest of the strings, as if there was something that prevented it from vibrating freely. I talked to my friend and he told me that it could be the position of the sound post, that he hoped to do that job with me so that I could tell him which place seemed best to me, but he couldn't do it because he traveled back He went ahead to his house, for which he gave me the violin with the sound post without my being able to play it before. He added some new pirastro tonic strings, which are nylon wound. Before that he had high tension all metal strings. I don't know what this decrease in sound could be due to, specifically of the A string. I think it may be the excess of ebony parts prevents the violin from vibrating freely, a sound post configuration that does not enhance the A string, the new low-tension nylon strings that do not fully vibrate the instrument or... all of the above together. What do you think?
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Hi folks, I bought a 16-1/2" unfinished "white" viola from a Chinese seller on eBay over a year ago. I bought it because I loved the look of the tight grained spruce top, the beautiful flamed maple on the back, and especially the fancy inlay. I have never tried any kind of project like this before, but after receiving it I realized that I had gotten something that was going to be more work than I bargained for. The fingerboard had a big hump in the middle of it. I double checked that it wasn't just warped, but no, the bottom was flat and the just the top had a big convex hump in it. I put it in the closet and decided to buy a much cheaper white violin to practice on and learn from before risking my luck on this nicer project. So now, over a year later, I took it out to see about fixing the hump and I noticed something I had not seen before: the fingerboard also has a long crack in it. I hoped that it was just cosmetic and I started aggressively sanding down the hump. But the crack is still there even after removing almost 1.5mm of thickness. I had saved the eBay listing photos when I bought it, and I now see that they cleverly avoided any view of this section of the fingerboard. I bet "Master Song and his 2 right hand apprentices" knew all about the hump and the crack in it - and that is how it ended up as a DIY "white" viola on eBay rather than a finished instrument... Is there a way to fix it? Fill it with CA glue? Would I be better off to remove it and put a better quality piece on? I emailed the seller asking if it was just "tack glued" and he replied, "No, it be well glued." So that solution won't be easy. Maybe I should just ignore it?
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Hello everyone, I am currently doing researches on what is available in the market as an alternative to ebony for fingerboards, as I'd like to try something else. Looking up online, I found: -''Musaica Imports Forte fingerboards'' made from 100% renewable resources. I'm not sure what it means. It kind of looks like some ''green'' advertisement to me. if you know more I'd be curious to get more details about it... -''Sound composite Archotech Fingerboards'' (They have 4 styles of fingerboards to choose from) Also the word IPE (not sure what it is standing for) was mentioned in different threads. I was wondering if someone had tried those materials before? If yes, how is it different from ebony to work with? Also is it different in terms of properties (density, stiffness etc.), does it impact the acoustic differently? (Ideally I'd like to find something quite close to ebony) I would also like to know if there is other alternatives/brands you knew about? Thank you, Charline
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Hello I am selling my father's collection of luthier supplies - this is just a few items I've photographed thus far. I also have a full size viola - it is in excellent condition - as it was brought in to our studio just before my dad fell ill and remained in our inventory - purchased from either heinl & co or kessler violin co (chelmsford ontario) about 5 years ago - it needs to sing!!! asking $400 obo ivory fingerboards ivory chin rests bow hair - 15 packs - asking $50 asking $20 each or make me an offer for the lot if approved i will post many more new items - bridges, pegs, items for bows, rib wood, hand carving tools and so on- if you have a specific interest or questions please ask away! we are located in Windsor On. thank you!
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Hi there, I recently saw a violin that someone "fixed", where instead of removing the neck and setting it to the correct angle, the person put a wedge under the fingerboard to raise it to the correct angle. Is this sometimes considered an acceptable fix? This should actually make playing harder in higher positions since it makes the neck thicker the closer you go to the body of the violin. Basicly the neck is almost straight with the body. So is this fix acceptable? Personally I would remove the wedge, and set the neck to the correct angle. But why wasnt something like that done in the first place? Disreguarding it being non-invasive on the violin. Thank You.
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We watched Steve Martin and Martin Short on Netflix last night. The fiddle player, Nicky Sanders (I looked him up and he was the concertmaster of The Young People's Symphony Orchestra in Berkley in his younger days) had a very strange fingerboard. My wife asked, "What is that black thing?" I said, "The weirdest fingerboard I've ever seen." Do you agree?
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What are the reasons for that all modern instruments have a solid piece of ebony? All fingerboards were veneered in the baroque era but why did they stop doing this? If there aren't that many differences then why don't we start veneering our fingerboards again to save the threatened ebony wood?
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Hello guys, we generally use 50mm radius for the cello here, I had a client today, his cello had a very convex fingerboard much smaller than 50mm, maybe even smaller than a violin curve and it was a non romberg. This kinda surprised me, I have yet to talk with him if this shape was intentional for his playing preferences. When we look at sources there are tons of different radii suggestions for cello fingerboards from 50s to over 60. We teach our students general cremona specs as 42 for violins, 37 for violas and 50 for cellos. As violin and viola radius are mostly standardized, I wondered what do you prefer when it comes to cello fingerboards. And why to you prefer that radius? Özgün
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I have a cello I just bought used. It was hardly played. Probably because of the buzzing. Have not played since High School and trying it again. I have played guitar for years and work on my own instruments. Familiar with basic guitar setup. On this cello it does not buzz on open strings. When fretting the A and somewhat D string in first or second position it buzzes very bad. I attached two pictures. In the first I used a straight edge and there is light between the straight edge & fingerboard from just below the nut to the top of the body. In the second picture my finger is where the straight edge again makes full contact with the fingerboard. This leads me to believe the neck or fingerboard is warped? Or is scooped wrong? Or something else? Or bridge is too low? I didn't pay much for this cello (though I found it was close to its new price) and don't want to put much money into it as I don't know if I will play it much. Just wanted to try cello again. Thanks for any help or info. Paul
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This came in an email advertisement yesterday. Has anyone seen or tried these yet. Is this different from the sound composites that was previously discussed here? http://acavalloviolins.com/details.php?prodID=1119&CAT=5 Steve
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I received this violin a while ago and have been playing it for a few months. It's very strong and has a rich sound, but I don't have any clues to who made it, what kind of varnish is on it, or when it was made. There is no maker's label on the inside (but there is something, that will be in a picture) and looks like it has had a repair, I think, since it came from a repair shop and may have had a small crack. I've made my own estimate and I guess it was made after 1900, but I'm no appraiser. It's actually due to be appraised sometime in the near future, but I've not gotten to it yet, hoping they have some answers. Also, no bow came with it (I have my own two), so there's not going to be any clues that way. I have posted the pictures on Tumblr since for some reason I cannot upload them to this post. Also, I've made captions for most of them stating what I know: http://captainsicarius.tumblr.com/post/148061275299/by-the-way-sorry-for-the-choice-of-background http://captainsicarius.tumblr.com/post/148061625704/part-two So, will anyone have a go at this? Hopefully an estimate on when it was made, at least, maybe where, or by who (again, I also have no idea what kind of varnish is on it). Thank you in advance to anyone who replies.
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Found groove cut into neck, and matching groove on underside of fingerboard. (Suzuki viola 14"). Nothing in the grooves. Why the grooves? (photo attached).
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Hello, I am looking to replace my fingerboard with a nicer, thiner fingerboard. As is, the fingerboard is too thick and the bridge has to be high. I see "gabor" ebony, but I cannot tell if they are properly planed with the dip and all. I do not want to plane a fingerboard. Much appreciated, Dave
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I am making my fourth violin and have decided to glue the fingerboard permanently and try to varnish under it, having done so with the fingerboards off for the previous three. I am curious to find out how many violin makers out there glue their fingerboards permanently and varnish under them, and if they have any special tricks for doing so.
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Hi all! I feel a bit paranoid, but I'm afraid for my instrument. I got sick this past week and thought my violin sounded different due to 'sick ears' but I've suddenly noticed that my fingerboard seems noticeably lower (however, I'm not entirely certain this isn't due to sudden onset paranoia caused by the 'sick ears' and I started to wonder if perhaps it's always been this way and I just never noticed, particularly since the violin was not too far out of tune when I took it out). I waited a day to see if maybe it was just my fevered imagination, but the lowered fingerboard actually appears worse this morning. While I was sick I changed the temp in the house a few times due to a bad fever and chills. While my violin has never reacted negatively to temperature or humidity changes in the past (going from the west coast of Canada in winter to Hawaii with no problems at all and even maintaining tuning). The only incident I can recall regarding this sort of thing is when the violin was first moved from Utah to Hawaii my violin teacher took a foam pad of some sort and wedged it beneath the fingerboard to prevent it from dropping due to the climate change. If anyone here has any advice or any opinions I'd love to hear it all. Thanks a bunch! I've also posted this on violinist.com so if anyone uses both sites please feel free to ignore one of my two posts
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I seem to recall reading about wiping on and polishing a fingerboard with olive oil as part of setting up. Does anyone do this?
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Addie’s Stupid Question of the Week #3: For hollowing the underside of a (violin) fingerboard, how far do you make the hollow from the neck root? I’ve seen numbers from 6mm to about 15mm, with a “blank” typically ~25mm from the neck root. What distance do you use, and why? Taught that way? Acoustic reasons? Other?
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Have you ever seen pearl part of fingerboard with the diamond? (glued under the fingerboard)? Do you know anything about this?
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Hi there, a few questions: 1. How do you achieve a perfect fingerboard/violin neck fit? It seems I always struggle with this. So far I've been using scrapers. Is there an easier/better way? I can never seem to get that 100% perfect fit. 2. How do you get rid of scratch marks on a fingerboard? Do you sand it with fine grid sandpaper? 3. What do you use to polish the fingerboards? Thank you. Hopefully someone can answer these, and maybe someone else can learn from it as well.
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