David Beard Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 "some" You also can't rule out that they ALL might have worked under the shared common notion that the top long arcs should be carved differently than backs in basically exactly the way we see them today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Burgess Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 8 hours ago, David Beard said: "some" You also can't rule out that they ALL might have worked under the shared common notion that the top long arcs should be carved differently than backs in basically exactly the way we see them today. We most certainly can rule out that top long arcs were originally carved in "basically exactly" the way we see them today, with the hypothetical exceptions of an instrument which has never been strung up, or a "solid body" instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide Sora Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 Leaving aside for a moment distortions or intentions, are we really sure that a flattish top long arch is better than a curved one? This guy seemed to have come to think otherwise. Breaking the rules? Love this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Burgess Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 42 minutes ago, Davide Sora said: Leaving aside for a moment distortions or intentions, are we really sure that a flattish top long arch is better than a curved one? This guy seemed to have come to think otherwise. Breaking the rules? Love this guy. The arching on that top does look like it would be unusually resistant to the typical long-arch distortion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Zethelius Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 9 hours ago, David Beard said: "some" You also can't rule out that they ALL might have worked under the shared common notion that the top long arcs should be carved differently than backs in basically exactly the way we see them today. Funny that you ignored my post with the quote which was actually from the time and place that some of these makers were still active. You also need to show why, if they really made the top more flat, that there's any advantage of doing so. The most sought after instruments as far as I'm aware, are rather more curved than not. 1 hour ago, Davide Sora said: Leaving aside for a moment distortions or intentions, are we really sure that a flattish top long arch is better than a curved one? This guy seemed to have come to think otherwise. Breaking the rules? Love this guy. A case in point. Del Gesu made rather thick plates that keeps the shape well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide Sora Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 1 hour ago, David Burgess said: The arching on that top does look like it would be unusually resistant to the typical long-arch distortion. Yep, maybe he was annoyed by all those distortions and tried to optimize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide Sora Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 38 minutes ago, Torbjörn Zethelius said: A case in point. Del Gesu made rather thick plates that keeps the shape well. Such an arching would seem to me more in the direction to look for something to be able to make thin thicknesses avoiding distortions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoGo Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 Perhaps but you need some extra wood under bridge for the feet and soundpost pressure and some behind and forward of bridge wher eteh most of the buckling appears so you end up with thicker centerbout and thiner upper/lower bouts with this reasoning.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasterercaster Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Torbjörn Zethelius said: Funny that you ignored my post with the quote which was actually from the time and place that some of these makers were still active. Venice 1770? What makes Francesco Griselini an authoritative source in regards to violin making? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Zethelius Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 1 hour ago, plasterercaster said: Venice 1770? What makes Francesco Griselini an authoritative source in regards to violin making? The proof is in the Tarragona, as they say in Cremona. I just made that up, pretty clever, eh? That guy knew a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torbjörn Zethelius Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 2 hours ago, Davide Sora said: Such an arching would seem to me more in the direction to look for something to be able to make thin thicknesses avoiding distortions. Thicknesses aren't as important as the curvatures. Make them thin or thick, I don't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Beard Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 7 hours ago, Davide Sora said: Leaving aside for a moment distortions or intentions, are we really sure that a flattish top long arch is better than a curved one? This guy seemed to have come to think otherwise. Breaking the rules? Love this guy. This is just an example of the shorter flattish stretch. This is not at all unique to Del Gesu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Morse-Brown Posted February 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 5 hours ago, Torbjörn Zethelius said: Thicknesses aren't as important as the curvatures. Make them thin or thick, I don't care. I agree, I recently made a stainer based instrument, the original top arching is not as flat as many others are, and the thicknessing is very different. Around 4.5mm in the centre reducing towards the edges - much more like a back would normally be. From my limited experience, the sound is very good and Stainer instruments used to be more highly prized than Strads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis J Posted February 27, 2021 Report Share Posted February 27, 2021 It seems clear to me that past makers have experimented with all sorts of top archings. Christian Pedersen said that higher arching examples tended to buckle most. I can't disagree with that. But did Stainer's violins distort? And, if not why not? I think earlier higher arching went out of fashion and many makers chose instead to adopt the flattened curve version. And, taken to the extreme, we see examples where the arching bulges towards the end blocks, especially in the upper bout. When that particular shape also has some sinking forward of the bridge it looks like compression distortion. Supposedly. Perhaps some makers in the past used the flattened low top with bulging areas to match the air volume of higher arched instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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