Posted on May 4, 2020May 16, 2025 by Dale Phillips Free Plate Tuning, Part Two: Violins Free Plate Tuning, Part Two: Violins by Alan Carruth Originally published in American Lutherie #29, 1992 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004 See also, Free Plate Tuning, Part One: Theory by Alan Carruth Free Plate Tuning, Part Three: Guitars by Alan Carruth Before I get into plate tuning proper I’d like to digress a bit and discuss the rationale behind the process, and a couple of other things I find it useful to keep in mind while I’m working. And I can’t think of a better way to begin than by telling you about one of my more elaborate experiments. Fig. 15 gives the relevant information on my fourth and fifth violins. The idea was to check out the influence of asymmetric back graduations by building a pair of closely-matched fiddles with that as the only variable. The one-piece backs were cut from the same plank of bird’s-eye maple and the tops were cut from a red spruce 4×6 that I took out of the wall of my house when I put in a new chimney. The molds were routed using a template. Archings were checked for height at over two dozen points on each plate and were held to .2MM. Graduation, weight, and frequency data is as shown. The delta f mentioned is the frequency drop obtained when a 5G weight was stuck to the plate in an active area of the given mode. Fittings and so on were matched as closely as possible, and the two bridges were cut back to back from the same piece of maple. 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 March 4, 2020May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips Violin Top Removal Violin Top Removal by George Manno Originally published in American Lutherie #5, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 One of the most difficult repairs to perform on a violin is removing its top after it has been glued with a yellow or a polyvinyl white glue, such as Titebond. These glues do exactly what the name implies: Their main objective is to close the separation between the rib and the top or back permanently. Violins are built in such a way that they can be taken apart if necessary. On many occasions, we have seen instruments come into our shop that were repaired by amateurs using whatever glue was available at the local hardware store. Apparently, thoughts of future adjustments to the neck or bass bar are not considered. Efforts to remove the top without damaging it after such glues have been used were, for a time, a cause of great distress to us. We have found a way to dissolve such a bond without harming the table, ribs, or back. Using a number of thin artist’s spatulas, a syringe, and some warm vinegar, along with a lot of patience, the removal of the top can be done successfully and the repair completed in a few days. 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 January 2, 2020May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips New Directions in Violin Making New Directions in Violin Making by Joseph Curtin from his 2008 GAL Convention lecture Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009 I started violin making as a frustrated player. My viola teacher’s husband was a viola maker, and at some point I just switched rooms. Otto Erdesz was his name, and he was a kind of crazy genius. I had a very informal education with him, which I realize now was good in some ways. He used to say, “If you take my advice, you do what you want.” The first instrument I made was a viola based on an asymmetrical model of his which had the upper bout cut away so you could reach higher positions. It seemed like a very good idea. He made about twenty of them, and then got frustrated at the resistance of musicians. Just the fact that it was different was a disadvantage. I moved into traditional violin making, which means more or less making copies of instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. Trying to do that well, trying to do that in a beautiful way and a faithful way and a way that sounds good, is an absolutely fascinating technical challenge. It’s very useful to have the limits provided by these traditions. But after twenty years I started to feel that making another Guarneri copy was a little boring. My mother is a painter and my father is a photographer, so I come from a visual arts background. In the visual arts, the general idea is to do something different each time. It would be embarrassing to do the same painting twice. With crafts, there’s an emphasis on repetition of forms. I think there can be a balance between those approaches in instrument making. And I think there is much more openness now to new design ideas among violin makers, and I’m sure among guitar makers too. I’ll show the work of various makers, including myself. I don’t want to give the impression that this is a major movement. It’s small, but hopefully it will grow. It’s fun to spend some of your time following your imagination as much as the traditions. 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 December 11, 2019May 14, 2025 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Carleen Hutchins Meet the Maker: Carleen Hutchins by Alan Carruth previously published in American Lutherie #86, 2006 See also, The New Violin Family by Alan Carruth The Catgut Acoustical Society and the New Violin Family Association by Robert J. Spear I first met Carleen Hutchins at the 1979 GAL Convention in Boston. I’d heard a lot about her from my teacher and friend Tom Knatt, who had been working with her for years, but she exceeded all of my expectations. The following winter I began joining Tom for the monthly drive down to Montclair, New Jersey for what Carleen called “technical violin making” sessions. It’s hard to overestimate Carleen’s impact on the lutherie community. As one of the first women to gain a reputation as an instrument maker, she’s been an inspiration to a number of others who have been important in their own right. In helping to establish the Catgut Acoustical Society, she was one of the first people to initiate the sort of information sharing that the GAL carries on; a system that has contributed much to this “Golden Age” of lutherie. As a scientist, she was one of the pioneers in the study of musical instrument acoustics, and in editing the CAS Journal, she brought together, coordinated, and inspired the work of many others. There always seems to be more to find out about Carleen, so when Tim suggested that I do an interview, I accepted the assignment gladly. Thus it was that I drove over to her new home in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in a snow storm, and sat down for an interesting chat. 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 November 19, 2019May 23, 2025 by Dale Phillips What You Should Know About The Hardanger Fiddle What You Should Know About The Hardanger Fiddle by David Golber Previously published in American Lutherie #36, 1993 and The Big Red Book of American Lutherie, Volume Three, 2004 Someone has walked into your shop with yet another weird instrument. This time, it’s sort of like a violin, but it has a whole lot of pegs, the top is carved funny, it has pearl and bone inlay, and it’s decorated with flowery drawings. He says his grandfather brought it from Norway in 1890, and he wants you to put it in playing condition. Well, it’s a Hardanger fiddle (hardingfele in Norwegian). The instrument originated in the area around the Hardanger fjord, whence its name. It is distinctly Norwegian; in fact, it is played in only about a quarter of Norway, the western and south-central areas. The oldest instrument found has a date of 1651. The musical tradition is still very much alive, and continues unbroken up to the present. Beginning in about 1850, there was an absolutely enormous emigration from Norway to America — something like a third of the population. Those who played fiddle of course brought their fiddles with them. In addition there were tours by professional players who performed for their emigrated countrymen and then returned to Norway. But the instrument and the music died out in America. The children of the immigrants rarely learned to play, and father’s fiddle lay in its case in the attic, or was hung on the wall like an icon of a lost era. Now there is something like a revival here in America, not only among the descendants of the immigrants, but also among those not of Norwegian ancestry who have discovered the music. 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.
