All Lutherie articles – Page 47
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Premium ❘ ArticleIn focus: a 1937 violin by Paolo De Barbieri
Paolo De Barbieri was born in 1889 in Genoa. In 1902, aged 13, he left a note on the kitchen table which read ‘Back in a minute’: he left home for about six years to work as a cabin boy. He completed his military service in the navy and in ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureVarnish analysis: shining examples
Identifying the varnish recipes of the early makers has been a long-held dream among researchers. Now, a team at the Arvedi Laboratory of Non-Invasive Diagnostics, headed by Marco Malagodi, has used a new form of micro-CT scanning to delve further into an instrument’s coatings than ever before
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Premium ❘ FeatureStradivari’s moulds: Variations on a theme
Twelve violin moulds from Antonio Stradivari’s workshop still survive, but how do they correspond to the master’s oeuvre? In the first of two articles,Philip Ihle and Andrea Zanrè present the results of an exhaustive survey to match forms to finished instruments
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Premium ❘ FeatureStradivari’s corners: Music of the spheres
The publication of high-accuracy violin photography has opened up new possibilities for researching Cremonese masterpieces up close and en masse. Philip Ihle examines Antonio Stradivari’s purfling corners across 136 examples and reveals their relationship with the luthier’s forms
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ArticleGiuseppe Sgarbi - an overlooked individualist?
In an era when luthiers were not precious about putting elements of their own personality into the models to which they referred, the 19th century maker Giuseppe Sgarbi created instruments that have a unique vibrancy and individuality
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Article‘When you are on a hill, the sound is good’
Luthier Stefan-Peter Greiner on the mysterious art of sound-adjustment
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ReviewBook review: Eugène Sartory: Documents and photographs concerning his life and work, presented by his grandson Philippe Dupuy
Philip Brown reviews a book of memories on the great 20th-century bow maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureStefan-Peter Greiner on individuality in violin making
For Stefan-Peter Greiner, instrument making is not about copying; it’s about individuality, experimentation and intuition. In conversation with Pauline Harding, the German luthier discusses his ideas on sound adjustment, ‘Stradivari frequencies’ and creating the ideal working environment
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FocusAre contemporary violin makers limiting their potential to develop new ideas?
A key aim of the VSA/Oberlin Workshop ‘Obie 1’ project was to create a good original violin design that was not directly derived or copied from a previous instrument
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Focus9 tips on working with violin bridges
Advice on how to fit, adjust and design your bridge from The Strad Archive
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Premium ❘ NewsAuction Report: January 2020
Old Italians and a modern bow proved popular at this autumn’s auctions, as Kevin MacDonald reports
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Premium ❘ FeatureBuying the right instrument for you
Whatever your needs, whatever your budget, there's an instrument out there for you. Laurinel Owen suggests some ways to find it
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: a peninsular bench extension
Ideas for a workplace addition that is completely accessible from all three of its sides
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: the DNA of design
David Beard argues that the old Cremonese makers had a geometric system of design ‘recipes’ to create the vast number of different instrument patterns we see today
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Premium ❘ FeatureSeeing red
Madder root has been used since ancient times to provide a deep red pigment – but the process of making it remains mysterious. For the past three years Hugh Withycombe and Guy Harrison have tested different methods to get the recipe just right – and can now reveal their findings
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Premium ❘ FeatureOn the borders of greatness
Giuseppe Sgarbi’s instruments have a unique vibrancy and individuality, while still respecting the traditional Cremonese forms. Lorenzo Frignani examines his career, as well as that of his son Antonio, to suggest why his work deserves more recognition than it has in the past
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NewsNew film tells the story of the bowmaker’s art
The Bowmakers journeys from the workshops of Port Townsend to the Brazilian Amazon rainforest
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VideoThe Bowmakers Trailer
‘The story of the most important instrument you’ve never heard of.’ A new feature film by documentary filmmaker Ward Serrill tells the story of the ‘silent servant’ of the music world: the bow. The Bowmakers takes viewers on a journey from the workshops of five master bowmakers in the Pacific ...
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NewsBowmaker Paul Martin Siefried has died
The eminent American bowmaker, master copyist and restorer has died, aged 69
