Lutherie
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Premium ❘ ArticleSoundpost: Letters to the Editor January 2021
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: January 2021 issue
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CT-Scanning the ‘Messiah’
In 2016 the ‘Messiah’ Stradivari was the subject of an extensive CT scanning project. Francesco Piasentini and Gregg Alf examine the resulting data, discovering repair work in the neck, and attempt to determine how it had originally been set
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Auction Report: January 2021
Despite the problems of Covid-19, the October sales went ahead as planned in London. Kevin MacDonald reviews some of the highlights
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Trade Secrets: Making a partial plaster cast
A useful restoration method that can be used when a full cast is unnecessary
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Making Matters: Making fingerboards green
With speculation rife that ebony might soon be added to the CITES index of forbidden woods, Alan Beavitt shares his method for creating a fingerboard using veneers rather than full blocks of the wood
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Soundpost: Letters to the Editor December 2020
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: December 2020 issue
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Trade Secrets: Preparing an instrument for varnishing
A guide to the steps needed for the final coat of varnish to show up to its best effect
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Making Matters: All laid out in black and white
Stradivari’s method for laying out f-holes has long been a mystery. Torbjörn Zethelius reveals the method he believes the Cremonese master may have used, and how it can still be useful today
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The viola d’amore: For a sympathetic ear
The viola d’amore is undergoing a resurgence in popularity among early music groups, with a wealth of repertoire still to be rediscovered. Rachael Durkin tracks the development of this unique instrument, examining its many precursors along the way
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Soundpost: Letters to the Editor November 2020
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: November 2020 issue
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Trade Secrets: Removing the mould after gluing the linings
A simple procedure that imitates the methods of the old Cremonese makers
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Making Matters: New angles on an old problem
David Burgess explains how he made a simple device for raising and lowering the tailpiece, to compare the differences in sound when adjusting the string angle and downforce on the bridge
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Carlo Bisiach: Dispatches from the front line
Gennady Filimonov examines the letters between Carlo Bisiach (1892–1968) and his American representative Leo D. Larsson, which provide a fascinating perspective on the violin trade in the 1930s and 40s, as well as an insight into the Italian luthier’s working methods
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Hollywood Bow Makers: Unsung heroes of the silver screen
Lasting from the late 1920s to 1960, Hollywood’s golden age was a boom time for musicians, and those who catered for them. Raphael Gold tells the stories of some of the era’s best-regarded LA bow makers, and reveals why their work should be better known today
