Posted on January 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: New Violin Family Octet Letter: New Violin Family Octet by Robert J. Spear, Editor, New Violin Family Association Newsletter Originally published in American Lutherie #81, 2005 Dear GAL — The concept of making seven or eight instruments in a balanced consort was described by Michael Praetorius in Syntagma Musicum in 1619, but it never developed enough musically to compete with the 17th-century advancement of the violin. That changed in the 20th century when a combination of acoustical research and master violin making created the Violin Octet of today. In 1957, composer Henry Brant was searching for a luthier adventurous enough to implement his idea “to create seven instruments, one at each half octave, that would produce violin-quality sound over the entire written range of music.” He approached Carleen Hutchins with his proposal at a time when she already had been working for a decade on the relation of violin air and wood resonances with Prof. Frederick A. Saunders of Harvard, who had pioneered violin research in the USA. It took Carleen only thirty minutes to agree to Henry’s idea, but it took her another ten years to finish the first Octet! 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 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: British Violin Making Association Formed Letter: British Violin Making Association Formed by Marc Soubeyran, Chairman, British Violin Making Association Originally published in American Lutherie #43, 1995 Dear friends, We are writing to let you know about the British Violin Making Association which has recently been formed. Over the past three or four years there has been in Britain a growing need for such an association. Earlier this year a group of working violin makers and restorers came together to set up the Association. Our aims are: 1) To raise the general standards of skill and expertise. 2) To encourage the dissemination of information. 3) To promote the skills of both new makers and restorers to the general public. 4) To promote a general fellowship of all those interested in and concerned with the violin family in all its aspects. Membership of this Association is open for all those who wish to adhere to these aims. We wish to encourage a diverse membership that can provide new insights in all aspects of violin and bow making. The Association’s future plans include conferences, exhibitions, lectures, a Newsletter, and social events. We look forward to creating and maintaining a worthwhile contact with you which would be to our mutual benefit. We would be delighted to keep you informed of our future activities.
Posted on January 11, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Strobel Series for Violin Makers Review: Strobel Series for Violin Makers by Henry Strobel, Publisher Originally published in American Lutherie #39, 1994 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Four, 2006 Book One: Useful Measurements for Violin Makers, A Reference for Shop Use Henry Strobel 1st edition July 1988 4th edition (4th printing) April 1994, 46 pp. (paper) ISBN 0962067326 Book Two: Violin Maker’s Notebook Henry Strobel 2nd edition 1992, 66 pp. (paper) ISBN 0962067334 Book Three: The Health of the Violin, and the Viola and Cello Lucien Greilsamer Translated from the French by Henry Strobel 1991, 34 pp. (paper) ISBN 0962067342 Book Four: Art & Method of the Violin Maker: Principles and Practices Henry Strobel 1st edition 1992, 2nd edition 1993, 78 pp. (paper) ISBN 0962067350 Book Five: Violin Making, Step by Step Henry Strobel 1st edition 1994 ISBN 0962067369 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 11, 2010March 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Review: Research Papers in Violin Acoustics 1975–1993 Review: Research Papers in Violin Acoustics, 1975-1993 edited by Carleen Hutchins and Virginia Benade Reviewed by David Hurd Originally published in American Lutherie #59, 1999 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Five, 2008 Research Papers in Violin Acoustics 1975–1993 Carleen Maley Hutchins, Editor Virginia Benade, Associate Editor Acoustical Society of America, ISBN 1563966093 It is with some trepidation that I pen this, my first book review for American Lutherie. As I noted to Tim Olsen, “But I’ve never made or even played a violin. How can I review such books and do them justice?” “Well,” he replied, “most of our readers are in the same position. And, having written the review, you can keep the books.” So began several months of fascinated reading of this two-volume set of violin research papers. A little over half of the papers in this collection are from the Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society, Series 1 or 2 and the Society Newsletter. Both the Society and the journal are still alive, well, and active in mostly violin family instrument research. The remainder of the articles come from such technical journals as: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Acustica, Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, Journal of Audio Engineering, Journal of the Violin Society of America, Scientific American, Wood Science and Technology, Acoustics Australia, Acta Metallica, Music Perception, American Journal of Physics, Interdisciplinary Science Review, Strad, and Physics Today. Papers from the proceedings of several conferences on acoustics and modal analysis are also represented. 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 11, 2010February 7, 2024 by Dale Phillips Letter: Cleaning/Polishing of Violins Letter: Cleaning/Polishing of Violins by William T. Walls Originally published in American Lutherie #12, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Dear Guild Members, Reference is made to George Manno’s “Violin Q&A” regarding cleaning and polishing violins. I have been making, repairing, and restoring bowed instruments professionally for over fifty years and would like to offer my 2¢ worth. I strongly recommend that xylene and similar products for cleaning caked-on rosin be used with extreme caution, as some varnishes will dissolve or become tacky when wet with them. Test them in a small place in an area that will not be noticed if the varnish is susceptible to damage. If it appears that xylene is safe, rubbing with a cloth may require a lot of rubbing, and a lot of rubbing may damage the varnish. I have found the following to be completely safe, effective, and fast for any instrument regardless of how bad the rosin build-up is. 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.
