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Showing results for tags 'Set up'.
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i have an old violin that has a good tone on 3 strings but the a string sounds quite dull compared to the others brighter strings make no difference is there a particular set up to brighten the A regards Ric
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I have some questions for the experienced restorers here that have done many bassbar replacements. Do you consider it normal to have to "play in" a new bassbar? Do you consider a bassbar that works well from the get-go a success, or has your experience taught you that for a bass bar to be successful, the violin has to be very hard to play, even choked off in sound for the first few months? I just had a disturbing experience this weekend. I was invited to dinner at some professional musician friends, and they showed me the violin they recently bought for their daughter, a very beautiful 1830 French violin made by a highly esteemed maker on a fine, large and flat golden Strad model. I don't want to say more about the violin itself as it is a highly recognizeable, well known example of a famous maker. When the dad was fiddle shopping, he called me (as well as just about every violinist he knows, I imagine) to ask my opinion about wolfs, as he had found a violin that his daughter, her teacher, and everyone else loved in every way, except that it had a big bad wolf (where one usually expects it, c' on the g-string). In the end, they decided to get the fiddle (my opinion is and was, if everything else is good, it's not a big deal, one can live with it or adjust around it to make it liveable), but apparently since then, they had a new bassbar put in to try to get rid of the wolf. They told me they themselves were shocked and dismayed when they got the fiddle back. It had no sound, anymore, they said! In the month since, they've been working with their luthier adjusting, fitting new bridges etc, and the "sound is coming back," as they put it. They asked me to play on it, and I was also dismayed. I hadn't played the violin with the previous bassbar, so I can't compare it to its previous state, but the fiddle I tried was absolutely stiff, dead, had no depth or resonance and would only respond to heavy bow pressure, yielding a thin, wiry and ugly sound. The "playability" of this fiddle reminded me of another, many years ago. There was a time way back when there were only two professional violin shops in the Boston area, and by coincidence, I happened to try two "Busans" from each of them at the same time. Both of the makers who ran these shops are top class craftsment, but one of these violins was stiff and screachy, while the other was more what one would expect from an 18thc. venitian. The seller of the screachy one insisted I use it for a while, because he had just put in a new bassbar and it needed playing in. Now that i think of it, there was another nice old fiddle after I moved to France, a Peter of Venice, that came out of a total restoration, pressed-out arches, patches, neck reset and of course new bassbar, and its owner gave it to me to play on for a year, because it was stiff and screachy, and she was hoping that I would "open it up." These 3 examples are in starck contrast to the bassbar replacement experiences I've had on my own violins. When it comes to my nice old fiddles, I bring them to a couple of different professional luthiers, who I've come to select over the years from seeing their restoration work, and from my preference for the set-ups they do. I've had bassbars replaced in 5 different violins over the years, and I've never encountered that "stiff as a board," "give it six months of playing in" type of experience. They were all fine from the start, maybe getting better and "opening up" a bit, but never starting from a "bad student fiddle" level of sound and response, which is how I would describe the above 3. I should probably leave my own fiddle-making out of this, as I am just an amateur maker, but fitting "textbook" bars without springing (I admit, I've been experimenting with the Hargrave "fastback" bar of late), my violins always start out just fine as well, no heavy duty "break-in" period necessary. What do you folks think?
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Hello everyone, I’m new to Maestronet so just wanted to say a quick hi and wish you all a Happy New Year 2016. I’m currently sifting through all the archived posts for advice on a change in set up for my violin. However, I would be grateful for any up to date feedback/opinions etc. I have a modern violin (16 years old) that I bought from the day it was made. I love the violin but have started to think about whether a change in the string length might make life slightly easier for playing. Here are my violin measurements based on a strad G pattern: Lob 360mm neck stop 132mm body stop 198mm vibrating string length 332mm (measured from edge of nut to front edge of bridge facing the fingerboard along the A string) From reading posts on the MN forum it seems the standard bridge position should allow for a 328mm-330mm string length. My second (spare) violin has a much smaller string length of 326mm and feels very easy to move around. My question is should I consider moving the bridge further north (adjusting sound post accordingly)? Will this adversely effect the tonal characteristics of my violin for the worse? I don’t have large hands but can adjust my intonation more or less on any violin. However, I am hoping an adjustment will help my 10ths, fingered octaves and other stretches for the better, as the stretches feel more natural on my smaller instrument. My local luthier (in Tokyo) offered various solutions to shortening the string length. The most extreme solution was to extend the nut to shift the finger board down by a few mm and then move the bridge up by a few mm. However, the neck elevation would have to be adjusted so I am worried this would be too evasive. The least evasive seems to be to just incrementally move the bridge up a tad and see if this makes a difference to playability. Alternatively, thinning the neck might also help. So far I have refrained from any work that requires shaving any wood off my violin. I have to add that a few years ago I changed my fittings to the Bogaro and Clemente pernambuco tailpiece and pegs. The previous tailpiece was 112mm whereas the current one is shorter by a few mms. The tail gut was lengthened ever so slightly to accommodate the difference. Would this be something to look into as well. Thanks in advance for any help and words of wisdom.
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Hello everyone, I've just reread Darnton's chapter on setup from his upublished book on violin making. Wow! There is so much to know, and without images its difficult for me to fully comprehend certain operations and techniques he is describing. At any rate, I find it very gripping and would like very much to be a set-up champion. The trouble is that in rural Washington, my teacher's shop doesn't get in all that many repairs and so the learning is slow. What's more, he wasn't to take a long trip with his kids this summer, so I'll be without a teacher for a few months. I'm hoping you especially experienced makers and restorers will offer some tips, techniques, reading material, suggestions for summer programs, etc so I can start preparing. It's a long shot, but if any of you in the US would be willing to have me in your shop for a week or two this summer, I would be extremely grateful. I can sleep under a bench and won't cost you a thing - I just want to watch you work and receive instruction only when you have time. I would help out in the shop in any way you saw fit and would require no compensatiom beyond the opportunity to learn. Please message me if this interests any of you at all. I really don't want to lose ground on my studies! Thank you all, Jackson
