Posted on July 24, 2020May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips Area Tuning the Violin Area Tuning the Violin by Keith Hill Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #283, 1984 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 See also, Hints for Area Tuning the Violin by Keith Hill Announcements of “discoveries” of the “secrets” of Stradivarius usually are not worth the ink used to print them. When they appear, everyone reads them with the customary curiosity. Then away they are filed along with the hundreds of other such claims. They get dredged up again when someone writes yet another book on the violin. Mindful of this possible fate, I would like to offer an explanation of a discovery that I have made. It is not of the “secrets” of Stradivarius; rather it is, I believe, the acoustical system utilized by the ancient Italian violin makers. The system is simplicity itself. It is possible for anyone who understands it and has normal hearing to use it. Moreover, it requires no measuring equipment save the ears and possibly a monochord. Furthermore, the thicknesses and their inexplicable variants, which so annoy our modern sense of decency when we observe them in the finest violins by Stradivari and Guarneri, occur naturally as a result of this system. Because it is so simple, it is, of course, the last place one would think to look for the answer. I expect that once you are equipped with the following information, you will go to your nearest antique Italian fiddle and look to see if what I am saying is actually there. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 8, 2020May 8, 2025 by Dale Phillips Hints for Area Tuning the Violin Hints for Area Tuning the Violin by Keith Hill Originally published in American Lutherie #1, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 See also, Area Tuning the Violin by Keith Hill In my article “Area Tuning the Violin” I presented my discovery of one of the theoretical principles governing the acoustical quality of the violins made by Stradivarius and his numerous Italian contemporaries. Because I believe that the area-tuning principle is the most important of all the acoustical principles pertinent to violin making, I deemed it best to present it in isolation. I would be less than open with you if I did not say that the American Acoustical Society and the Catgut Acoustical Society both rejected the worthiness of the area-tuning principle. I feel that their reasons were full of vested self-interest. I tell you what I told them: Paying attention to flexibility of free plates is a waste of time and attention. Consider the following points. First, thousands of violins have been made using this notion for the last century, yet no consistently superior results have been produced. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 6, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips Spiritual Lutherie Spiritual Lutherie by Raphael Weisman Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Quarterly, Volume 9 #3, 1981 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars, 1997 We are all, in some way, the samurai warriors of today. Our weapons are our tools, our disciplines and skills are our crafts, and our aim is the refining and perfecting of ourselves as artists, as craftspeople, and as human beings. I am becoming more and more aware of my quest, of my journey in this field, and only a small amount of it really has to do with making instruments. I see life as a university, a school, the school of the soul where we come to learn as much as we can in a brief spell. This world is the world of the physical, the material, the world of money and nature. It is here that we can learn the most and the fastest because this world offers us an opportunity to experience. And it is through experience that we grow in consciousness, in awareness, and in form. We are the molders of our experience, and through the process of experiencing, we learn. Through learning and refining, we grow. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 6, 2020May 21, 2025 by Dale Phillips White, Yellow, and Hide Glues White, Yellow, and Hide Glues by Lawrence D. Brown Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #174, 1981 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 This article originally appeared in the FoMRHI Quarterly No. 18, and appears here (revised and expanded) with the kind permission of that organization. Ultimately, the quality of a musical instrument depends not only on the sweetness of its tone but also on its continued service and durability in a variety of climates. Deterioration of an instrument may occur from internal or external forces. External forces are those that come from hard use or from string tension. Internal forces are the result of the natural tendency of all woods to shrink, warp, and shift position in response to changes in moisture content. Poorly shaped parts that have been forced together by clamping pressure are also capable of generating internal forces by the steady pull on the joint caused by the misalignment. The structural integrity of the instrument, its ability to stay together and retain an attractive appearance over a number of years, depends on four things: the choice of carefully sawn woods with a uniform, low moisture content; the type and design of the joints used; the experience and expertise of the builder; and the adhesive used in construction. The concern here is glue, although some discussion of closely related factors such as joint design and humidity is unavoidable. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on July 6, 2020May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips Questions: Summer/Spring Wood Questions: Summer/Spring Wood by Byron Will Originally published in American Lutherie #33, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 Anonymous asks: I’ve heard people talk about “strong” winter grain in spruce and cedar and others talk about summer growth and spring growth, or summer wood and spring wood. Which is which? Does it depend on where you are? Also there seem to be different ideas about what is desirable. It seems as if violin makers want strong, dark lines and guitar makers don’t care so much. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
