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Showing results for tags 'bridge'.
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Here are a couple photos showing some measurements. 44mm between upper f-hole eyes. Location of base bar shown in photo. 42mm wide bridge currently on it. The base bar seems to not be under the bridge foot...measuring exactly is difficult due to slant of measuring device through f-hole. Used thin card stock, less slant than metal ruler. It looks like I need a 44mm bridge. I ordered one and it should arrive tomorrow. The measurement between the feet on this wide blank will be quite a bit wider than the various bridges I have for this instrument. How does that affect tone and balance? Will that make the D and A strings more open? Can bridge thickness compensate for that if needed? With a 44mm bridge, should I increase the string spacing? With the wider bridge, I'll need a shorter post so I can move it out further. Considering these photos, would you select a 44mm bridge blank? I could also try a 43mm, but might have to shift it toward the base bar a tad. Didn't mean to insert that photo again but couldn't figure out how to delete it.
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A fellow violinist recently noticed that a tiny part of my bridge had chipped off and was horrified that I was continuing to play my instrument rather than getting it repaired immediately. A cursory Google seems to suggest that this part of the bridge is called the kidney wing, but I may be wrong. It does not, to my eyes, seem to be crucial to the structural integrity of the bridge, but what do I know? Do I need to get my bridge replaced ASAP or is this not a big deal?
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I don't know if this is typical or the fault of the much discussed USPS "slowdown," but yesterday I received both July and August issues of The Strad. :-( In any case, in the one with Two Set on the cover (arrrgh), there's a letter from someone trying to argue with an article Hargrave wrote on string angle/force some time ago, and they had Roger respond and nicely set the letter writer straight. :-) (actually, on the higher saddle, and it's possible effect on string force on bridge) Your thoughts?
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We had a violin come in our workshop for some seams to be glued recently. The player had a bridge made a while ago. He proudly showed me two small points that an American violin restorer had put into the front with sharp point, at the corner of each bridge foot. This was to mark the position of the bridge. If the violin was a cheap fiddle, I probably wouldn’t care but this is a good mid-18th Century Italian violin. Personally I was surprised by this. What do other restorers think of this method? Is this a new technique that is wide spread?
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Hello everybody! I've been too busy this past year to follow the forum much or do much violin making, but I've been getting a little time to get back into it lately and I thought I'd post this to see what some of your thoughts might be on the topic. Last summer I finished a violin with very low arching. (As a matter of fact a bit lower and scoopier around the edges than I originally intended, but I got a little over aggressive in the rough out stage...I eyeball it at about 12mm finished up) After installing the neck with "traditional" overstand and projection values (7mm, 27mm) I found I had a string break angle over the bridge a bit flatter than I usually like coming in at over 161° at the d-string. The violin sounded ok, but darker and tubbier than what I consider useable by a serious player. As I usually do with my fiddles, I left it as is, playing on it and having it played on to see how it might evolve for a few months. Around this time Don Noon posted his experiment about the effects of extremely flat string angles, so I thought what the heck, I'll just leave it as is. After a few months, I still found the violin disappointing, so I decided to try my own experiment and found that by attaching a string to the sides of the tailpiece at the playing string holes and wrapping it around the back of the violin, I could pull the tailpiece down to make the string break angle more acute (increase the down force). The result was that, yes, once I brought the angle down to 158°, I was getting the brighter "treble fizz" the violin had been lacking. I recognize that the pressure of the wedges on the ribs that I was using to tension the "pull down" string and its immobilizing effect on the tailpiece might have been contributing to the change in sound quality, but the result was so compelling to my ears that I decided to do a neck reset. I finally got around to it last week and went about it with the goal to have a 158° break angle, and a minimum 4mm overstand, and the result is that I have a 35mm high bridge. A higher bridge might have an advantage in its greater lever effect between the strings and the feet, and that the relative differences in lever length between the inner and outer strings are diminished compared to a lower bridge, but the downside of course is that there's greater mass to swing around. I don't like my bridges to be too spindly, but I managed to get this one down to 2gr. The violin, by the way, is finally sounding good: still on the dark side, but within a "useable" range for a professional classical player. The questions I'd like to throw out to the forum are: what do you do with a neck set on a violin with very low arching? How low would you go with the overstand? How high would you go with the bridge? Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated!
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First, I'm sorry for such a basic question. I am a total newbie to the violin (well, I now have almost a couple months of practicing). The problem is that looking at pictures of violins in Internet I just realized now that maybe my violin's bridge is not set up properly. I bought my violin, a Yamaha AV5-SC, brand new from an on-line retailer. I love this violin. Although a (relative) cheap violin, a few hundreds dollars, even I can tell this violin will be above my skill level for a long while. To the point, the violin came all set up, with its bridge in place. Obviously, the violin wasn't in tune. But save tuning, even Yamaha's official documentation which came with the violin says: the instrument is ready to play (paraphrasing). Now, the flat face of the bridge is facing the finger board , for what I'm seeing in pictures the flat face should be facing the tail piece and the sloped-in face is the one facing the finger board. Now, I could chalk it up to someone messing it up in Yamaha and fix it but... by the bridge heights the bridge is indeed correctly positioned. In other words, as it is now, the height for the E string groove is lower than the G string groove. If I try to fix the bridge face orientation (flat face to the tail piece) I will be screwing the heights in top rounded edge (E string will be higher than G string) So, it is like the bridge has contradictory specs (!?) I have no basis to doubt mishandling in the violin by the retailer, it seemed to be packaged straight up from factory. And I certainly trust Yamaha knows what it is doing. In conclusion, I don't have a clue. If someone can shed some light, I will certainly appreciate it. Thanks.
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Drumskin for sale 18 inches in diameter, 0.2 - 0.3 mm thick Appears opaque, but it becomes clear after scraping and glued. Almost invisible when glued to the bridge. You can get over 3,500 pieces for violin or 1,200 for cello. Hard to find calfskin. $50 per sheet, ($10 for shipping in US or Canada) Koo Young Chung Please PM me.
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Weeee! I finished my first violin bridge today! Only took me 10 hours to make! How long is it supposed to take an experienced luthier to cut these?
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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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Hello All, I am returning to the cello, after about thirty-five years of ignoring my beautiful-but-impossible-to-tune instrument. It is a wonderful cello, but the pegs slip and are difficult to turn, and this is basically why I was discouraged and stopped playing. Should I find a luthier to work on the pegs? Is this done? I live in the West Palm Beach area, and would appreciate local recommendations. Also, my bridge is warped, beyond repair, and I don't remember if I need a bridge custom cut, or if I can order one on Amazon, and play it -out-of-the-box. Please advise, as I am on a tight budget, but would love to begin playing again. Thank you! Karen
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I thought of a simple way to check clearance at the bridge inside a closed case. Wish I thought of it before, but if anyone has a better way I'd love to know. Pretty common concern, but I've usually relied on wear patterns and my best guess. To check the clearance I used a piece of drafting tape with a second piece folded over so the middle was not sticky. I used this to create a pocket that a short piece of wood (I used a tongue depressor) can slide up and down with little resistance when taped against the back of the bridge. End result is that I can close the case and check the clearance. This bridge broke because the case it was kept in makes contact with the bridge when it is closed, but before recommending a replacement I wanted to know there was plenty of space. Also notable, leaning hard on the cover of the case (it's a foam case for a cheap cello) depressed the case 5mm towards the bridge.
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Hello to everyone this is De Paoli from Canada I would like to add more photos of tone wood and accessories that we have if there is an interest please let me know as we are moving from our present location over the next month and would like all this wonderful collection to go to luthier's hands! the next few posts will be of pics but if you request something specific i can post many more! thanks again for the interest!
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Hello everyone I have some lovely pieces of Cello tonewood they are two piece - some already joined and a couple still in half I have cello ribs a few scrolls bridge finger boards cello mold/frame if anyone's interested please let me know!n thanks!
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A colleague asked me for pictures of old cello bridges. Especially they're looking for bridges made by Mantegazza. I've already sent them this link http://www.violinbridges.co.uk Since I couldn't help them further I'm asking forum members for help. Thanks in advance
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So I got a old Juzek cello (brand name) on ebay. It arrived, dissasembled, of course (what fun!), and came with bridge that had feet that look like this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6dp7YWUdpExMGRUTEJCNnZXdEU/view?usp=sharing The feet are scalloped. The edges connect to the top perfectly. I've never seen this before; anyone know what it could be for?
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Bridges collection http://www.auction.fr/_fr/lot/arman-1928-2005-burnt-bridges-1993-accumulation-de-chevalets-de-violon-8371241?from=search#.VZTkFO0aHqA
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Hello all, Some bridge makers claim their bridges have been treated (whilst untreated bridges are also available). Could you tell me what is the purpose of treatment and what chemicals do they use? Do they treat the wood just because of darker look, or because of sound quality? Thanks!
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Wondering what people listen for to guide tonal adjustments in setup? I know for myself, to a large degree I'm listening to brightness versus darkness in the tone. And I mostly associate that with a generally more tensioned and strong setup giving harder brighter results, and lower tension tending more toward dark. I know I'm trying to maximize power and response in the tone, while balancing other factors. I want to strike a balance making brightness or darker warmth available in the tone, and a balance between openness of tone and a more reedy firmness of tone. Presuming good fit of bridge feet and post, I think of tension as the first thing to adjust in the setup. Following Gerald Botteley's advice from the Courtnall & Johnson book, I move the bridge forward to test lower tension and back to test higher tension, and see which direction gives improvement in the tone and response. I try to work first from a completely standard, but somewhat beefy bridge, and a somewhat beefy and longish post a little bit closer to center line and further back behind the bridge than standard. From this start, I try to get the tension of the instrument setup as close a possible to right, but slightly over tight, as I work the post closer toward a 'standard' position. I prefer to work with bridge and post just barely thickish. Once the tension seems close to good, but definitely not too loose, then I try to refine the post position by listening to how it affects the balance of the response in terms of bass versus treble, and quick brightness versus slower warmth of tone. This things I mostly test by playing in low and high positions on all strings, and by listening to how the response changes near and far from the bridge, and with different pressures and bow speeds. I try to work with the bass to treble balance first. Mostly I adjust this by moving the post closer or further toward the center line. Since the fit and tension/height are affected by this kind of move, I might need to make a new post to get both the tension and the bass/treble balance working well. The nearness or distance behind the bridge foot also alters the effective tension, but less so the fit. So I'm happy if my fiddling around with the post ends with this last dimension. I feel like this distance most strongly effects the balance between hardness/directness versus openness/indirectness of response. It seems very similar to moving a microphone nearer or farther from the voice. After this, even though the general bass to treble balance should be good, the balance between individual strings might want some further adjusting. I try to do this last balancing of strings by trimming away a little in the bridge cutout just below the string that wants to be a little more present and open in tone. Once the strings seem as well balanced as possible, I consider if the tone wants more openness. If so, I consider trimming the other cutouts of the bridge further. But I don't want to lose strength in the bridge, so I'm least inclined to thin the bridge or post. Both these steps can lighten and open the response, but are too easily overdone. It seems that response can get mushy and slowed, and tone thin if either post or bridge aren't solid enough. But, response can be dampened and tone veiled if these have too much mass. I prefer to end up with a very standard post and bridge in very standard positions, but results matter more. *********** I don't think there's much out of the ordinary in what I described above. But I'm interested in hearing more techniques people use, and the things they listen for. In the part where I'm listening with different pressures and speeds and such, I do one kind of test that I haven't particularly heard discussed elsewhere. Maybe others do this to? I pay attention to how easily you can play a sul ponticello effect, and how far from the bridge you can be and still get that sound. As well as how close to the bridge you can draw a clear brilliant tone, and where on the string you can start to get a sul tasto kind of sound. I like it when all these colors are readily available. I like to see the sul ponticello available out mid way to the fingerboard. And a good sul tasto color available starting right around the fingerboard. Post to bridge nearness for example affects this greatly. Also, I want to see similar colors available for similar contact points across all the strings, as much as possible. More and more, I find myself using these tests as my main guide as I work through the setup. ************* I'm hoping people will share both their process, and the special things they listen for to help judge tonal setup.
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Hi, I play violin for 2 years and my two daughters play violin as well (1/4 and 3/4 size). Since we all play violins, I thought it'd be fun to learn to do some basic setup work. I had my previous violin adjusted a few times by luthiers and it was really interesting to hear the improvements that were made. I have an inexpensive 14" viola that I can use for practice. I don't play it often and it was cheap (Cecilio CVA-500 from Amazon) so if I mess it up, it's not a big loss. I also have my previous violin that I was going to sell, but if I can learn to customize a bridge for it, that would be very interesting too and could help with reselling it, or if I can correct some of its issues it could be interesting for my daughter. I received the StewMac violin setup DVD for Christmas and I really enjoyed it, which increased my desire to try some things myself. The things I'd like to do to my viola are: Make a new bridge Adjust soundpost Fit the pegs - I broke one and had a luthier replace it, the others need to be redone too. Replace the tailpiece with a Whittner with built-in fine tuners (or a tailpiece without fine tuners, I don't have fine tuners on my violin so if the viola pegs are fit properly I don't think I'll need fine tuners on the viola). I've done a lot of googling on the net and searching in these forums and I've learned a lot. But one question I have for which I haven't been able to find an answer is whether a 14" viola would require different parts than a violin? I got the viola in 14" because I still have intonation issues on my violin and I didn't want to be distracted by a larger size viola. So the viola is similar in size to a violin but it's a little bigger and a little taller. When I buy bridge blanks, can I use violin bridge blanks? The bridge that is on it looks similar in size to a violin bridge but it is thicker. I don't know if it needs to be thicker or if it just wasn't fitted properly. Well for the price I'm sure it wasn't customized very well. I also have the same question for the tailpiece, can I use a violin tailpiece? While searching the forums I found someone recommended a pack of 100 bridges from ebay to practice on. So if those will work for the 14" viola I'd like to get them. Here's the link (I hope it's ok to post these, if not the links can be removed): http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-4-100-pcs-violin-bridges-fine-maple-laser-precise-/201134962205?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ed493f61d I wrote to the seller and asked what tools he recommends for the setup work I intend to do and he recommended the following in addition to the bridges: a knife - http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/201303798766 sound post tools - http://www.ebay.com/itm/sound-post-gauge-Setter-retriever-luthier-tools-violin-/181585489641?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4756aee9 a mini-plane - I really don't know what this is used for - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Strong-Brass-Mini-plane-curve-underside-violin-making-tools-6086-/351120166490?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51c0648e5a peg reamer and shaver - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Best-violin-tool-VIOLIN-PEG-HOLE-REAMER-VIOLin-PEG-SHAVE-/181465424465?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a402ea251 And I was also planning on getting: whittner tailpiece - http://www.thomann.de/fr/wittner_tailpiece_violin_44.htm a good bridge when I'm ready for it - http://www.thomann.de/fr/aubert_mirecourt_violin_bridge_4_4.htm I live in France and his prices seem to be very good compared to what I've found in France. My questions are: Can I use 4/4 violin parts for the 14" viola? Are there any books or DVDs that would help me to learn the setup items I'd like to do? I know there are a lot of violin books about making violins but for now I just want to focus on the setup. Do you recommend the tools I listed above? Would you recommend any better alternatives? Thank you very much for reading and I look forward to getting some feedback and sharing my progress in this adventure.
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I notice here http://orpheon.org/OldSite/Bildmaterial/WienStege.jpg (and have seen it on modern instruments too) that string spacing on the bridge is not always the standard 11.5mm. D and A are sometimes closer. True? If so why? Thanks folks.
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Hello from Las Vegas! I have a video of a duo recital I did with a fellow cellist here in Las Vegas which I thought might be fun to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQWMn9AtdQ8 Cheers! Djerzy
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Hi, First time posting here. The bridge and the fine tuner came with an old violin. Without showing the violin, could someone comment on the style, date, location of the bridge and the fine tuner? The fine tuner hooks onto the E string, the center piece presses down on the string as it turns. Thank you. http://imgur.com/FN7YWZS
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I've been looking around to see what height my bridge needs to be because it seemed unnaturally high even though it's a medium sized bridge (about 15 mm on the C string and 12 mm on the A string). I was wondering if anyone knew what I need to do to lower it because I have been asked to join the Athens Youth Symphony and my audition for the Governor's Honors Program is coming up and it would probably sound a lot better if my bridge were lower. Please help.
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Hi, sorry for making another bridge curve/shape topic, since there are already some out there, but instead of resurrecting an old topic, it might be better to make a new one. So first let me start by saying I tried quite a few different bridge templates. Ive tried making my own template, using a 42mm radius, aswell as checking that to the 42mm radius playing surface. I downloaded a bridge template, but all seem to have the same problem. As I go up higher in positions when playing, it gets harder and harder to play one string only. I cannot use the pressure that I would like, as it would cause 2 strings to be played, or even 3 strings. I like to play strong, with enough pressure. Does anyone perhaps have any suggestions about what I can do? I want to make a new bridge template, different from the one Ive been using, so any advice on this will be appreciated. Also, what is the usual preference of classical players, regarding bridge shapes/curves/radius? Thank you.
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Hi all, I'm more or less a beginner in woodworking & making instruments, and am seeking to specialize in making the pear-shaped lyra/kemençe of Istanbul (http://lyrafiddle.com/) As an experienced player, I'm also interested in discovering how to make my existing instruments sound better, and I'm thinking about investing a chunk of time in figuring out the bridge. Since the instrument is not quite as standardized as the violin family, there seem to be many more variables to explore here, including: - type of wood - height of bridge - curvature of top - tapering from base to top - thickness/length of arm (the bit that extends over the treble soundhole and sits directly on the soundpost) - size of foot (the single piece that sits on the soundboard) - number of holes & shape of holes etc. Does it makes sense to use any engineering design tools (i.e. modal analysis using FEM) to analyze the geometric variables, and is this even possible given the strong anisotropic properties of wood? Does anyone here have experience or words of advice in case I'm embarking on a futile mission?
