Improve a violin by sitting on it?

[violins88]

Don't jump down to the bottom of the page for the answer.

 

Last evening at the violin making class I teach, before class, there was a frantic knock at the door. I went out to meet a man who said a woman had fallen in the street and needed help. I rushed out to find my student lying in the street. She was stunned and bleeding, having tripped on a bump in the street.

 

My wife and brother took her to the emergency room. Emergency rooms take a lot of waiting time. So I went to shop with the other student and proceeded to help him make a knife handle and sharpen his knife to razor sharpness. He was impressed.

 

All the while I waited for news about my other student at the hospital. No news.

 

So I showed the student how to take bridge tap measurements. He had two violins, one Chinese the other perhaps Czech.  Inexpensive and thick. I brought my violin out for comparison. When finished I stood it up on the seat of a huge armchair.  Said good-bye to my student.

 

A while later, maybe an hour, I re-entered the room to join a lively conversation with my wife and brother.  I sat down to join in. Well,..... tried to sit down. I had tried to sit in the chair containing my precious violin. I heard a low pop and felt something odd on my backside, not a padded chair, which I was expecting.

 

The violin bridge had been knocked out, and indentations were present in the top of the violin. But my geologist brother looked it over carefully and pronounced firmly "It's going to be fine. In a thousand years, no one will know the difference. Really, it's fine."

 

The phone rang. The woman, my promising student, was on the line. She said the Percoset was making her feel fine. I wished her well and said I would talk with her when she had recovered and was not on Percoset.

 

Discourage about my friend, I realized the violin accident was not at all important compared to my friends heath, I waited until the next morning to assess the damage on the violin. Soundpost still there. I set-up the bridge and brought the strings up to pitch. At the stroke of the bow, a glorius sound emerged. All strings, all notes. Powerful and sweet. 

 

So... You can improve a violin by sitting on it.

[not telling]

Nyuk nyuk. Happy April Fool's Day!

But this may be true, since I have been sitting on my instrument for several weeks now and I think it sounds better...

[Michael Appleman]

We need more data:

Body weight

Height of the armchair

density of the padding of the chair

Thickness of shoe soles worn at the time of the experiment

Without this we could never expect repeatable results...

[violins88]

Nyuk nyuk. Happy April Fool's Day!

But this may be true, since I have been sitting on my instrument for several weeks now and I think it sounds better...

I may have to respond tomorrow, but this is NOT an April Fool story.

[Michael Appleman]

I forgot...impact hammer spectra of the chair...

[Bernie R]

I'm reminded of the earthquake which recently affected Blackpool, England, causing millions of pounds worth of improvements.

[Christopher Jacoby]

Lots of makers phyrically manipulate their arches to break them in. But I might suggest yer thumbs, instead of yer ass, next time.

[geoff1954]

My wife says that my violin sounds better when I sit on it than when i use the bow. Very rude!

[Stephen Faulk]

Can you make a set of Butt Templates to share? 

[Jack Rushing]

You might have caused the sound post to move a fraction, re-setting it in it's optimum position.

[violins88]

Lots of makers phyrically manipulate their arches to break them in. But I might suggest yer thumbs, instead of yer ass, next time.

Ha, ha.  That one made me chuckle.

[violins88]

You might have caused the sound post to move a fraction, re-setting it in it's optimum position.

Yes, this occurred to me too.