Guy_Gallo Posted November 7, 2002 Report Posted November 7, 2002 I have two Guarneri style chin rests. One has fairly thin feet -- covering, really, only the ridge/rib area. The other has thicker feet. Intended, I assume, to distribute pressure onto the body itself. Is there an advantage to thicker feet? On the instrument in question, the thicker feet actually don't function as intended, the contact is still only on the rib area (one can see daylight at the body edge of the chinrest feet). Is that a problem? Should I change rests or build up the feet? Or just let the thicker feet function as if they were thinner? --Guy
skiingfiddler Posted November 7, 2002 Report Posted November 7, 2002 Falstaff, Assuming that both chinrests are equally comfortable, if it were my fiddle and one I cared about, I think I would go with the Guarneri chinrest with the larger footprints (the thick feet), but with the chinrest footprints adjusted to the shape of the top of the instrument. I'd get rid of that gap in the fit of the chinrest feet to the top by padding the feet liberally with cork (3 or 4 mm, maybe more) and then shaping the cork to fit the channel of the top of the instrument so that there is contact, and thus even distribution of pressure, over the whole area of the chinrest's footprints. The larger footprints would be preferable, I believe, to the smaller ones because the pressure would be better distributed, but only if the larger footprints are shaped to fit the top of the instrument. I'm assuming the footprints of the thinner footed chinrest are about 4 to 5 mm "thick" while the ones on the thicker one are about 12 to 14 mm "thick". In recommending the thicker one, I'm assuming that the thicker one's footprints are not unusually large and spreading onto the graduated, vibrating part of the top.
Guy_Gallo Posted November 7, 2002 Author Report Posted November 7, 2002 I think your assumptions are all correct. The thicker feet (making a rather eyeballed measurement) is a little over one centimeter. It would take very little (1-2 mm) of cork to fill the gap between its outer edge and the belly. Where does one get appropriately thin sheets of cork to do the padding? Thanks for the response.
skiingfiddler Posted November 7, 2002 Report Posted November 7, 2002 I bought a couple of kinds of cork sheeting from an automobile parts store for a couple of bucks a package. In cars it's used as gasket material. One sheeting was 1/16 inch thick (about 1.5 mm) and the other was 1/8 inch. From those two packages, I've got enough cork for more chinrests than I'll ever want to own.
hk1997 Posted November 7, 2002 Report Posted November 7, 2002 They also sell them at office supply stores and Walmart for corkboard replacements.
dick l graham Posted November 8, 2002 Report Posted November 8, 2002 cork sheeting can be cemented by most any adhesive including elmers glue. If you want removable then use "rubber cement" available at office supply or school supply. apply coat to both surfaces and let it dry. then press together and it sticks like contact cement. for permanent then consider what you want to use for the metal as the cork can be anything
skiingfiddler Posted November 8, 2002 Report Posted November 8, 2002 La Folia, I use rubber cement. A repair person once told me that rubber cement can be very harmful to varnish, but I've never had any trouble with it. I let it dry thoroughly (hours, sometimes overnight) before putting the chinrest on the instrument. The advantages in using rubber cement are that you can peel the padding off the chinrest if you decide you need a different kind or thickness of padding, and rubber cement, because it's spongy when dry and doesn't get stiff, is, itself, a thin layer of padding. I make a point of removing chinrests from my instruments a couple of times a year just to see what's going on underneath them -- to see whether the padding (cork or leather) is sticking to the varnish, to see if cracks are developing around the saddle, to see whether the padding is marring the varnish, to evaluate the snuggness of the chinrest. Maybe that periodic removal is the reason why I don't have any trouble with rubber cement.
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