Posted on August 17, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Basics of Air Resonances Basics of Air Resonances by W.D. Allen Originally published in American Lutherie #1, 1985 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 Stringed musical instruments with soundboxes typical of the guitar and violin families have many internal air resonances. The resonance with the lowest frequency is called the Helmholtz resonance, and its importance to the quality of the instrument is appreciated. The resonances with higher frequencies have been referred to by different names: higher Helmholtz, cavity modes, or standing wave modes. These resonances have been measured and documented for several different instruments, but there seems to be little information on their controlling parameters. The intent of this article is to give the instrument builder some understanding of the air resonances, what parameters establish the frequencies, and some insight into the potential for using this information to make better instruments. A minimum-math, pictorial approach with approximation and rounded-off numbers will be used. Showing the effects of the controlling parameters is the objective, not the absolute value of a number. 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 24, 2020March 6, 2024 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, 2020March 6, 2024 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 May 21, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips Systems Analysis of the Violin Systems Analysis of the Violin by A.F. Standing Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #173, 1981 My first introduction to the violin was my father’s playing, and I remember, young as I was, a fascination with its strange shape and even stranger sound. From that time to this I had no further contact with the instrument until I met professionally (we are computer programmers) a young lady whose many talents include that of violin making. My interest in old crafts led us into many discussions on the design, construction and adjustment of the violin. As I borrowed, and read, the articles she had collected, I became more and more astounded as from their arcane depths arose the musty odor of eye of toad and toe of newt. With my curiosity and interest aroused it seemed a good idea to consider each part of the violin, the problem it solved, and its interaction with the remainder of the instrument. In this way, once, the basic operation of the instrument was understood, all the second order effects that make all the difference in the real world could be considered as perturbations from the basic instrument. This article was written in an attempt to see if I could, with no musical knowledge or experience whatever, determine by thought alone the modus operandi of the violin. 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 May 21, 2020March 6, 2024 by Dale Phillips The American Luthier: A New Era The American Luthier: A New Era by J.R. Beall Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Volume 1 #1, 1973 Guitars of all kinds are currently enjoying an unprecedented popularity in this country and, indeed, throughout the world. People of every sort are playing or enjoying the performance of guitar music and even the ivied halls of American’s most prestigious conservatories are echoing at last with the sounds of the guitar. The upshot of this welcome boom in popularity and attendant dignification of the guitar as a legitimate instrument is that classic guitars of very fine quality are in high demand and very short supply. Although quite good instruments are available at very reasonable prices, really excellent ones are frequently unavailable at any price. Many advanced students, teachers, and budding concert artists would like to own outstanding instruments but are unable to find them. The guitar, unfortunately, does not have the long, rich history of the violin and artists, therefore, are unable to find antique instruments of high quality. As a result, one must conclude at last that the really top quality concert instruments are yet to be made. This, then, brings me to the point of my writing which is that when guitars of outstanding quality are finally made more available, they will come, for the most part, from small shops in the United States. 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.
