Lutherie
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Making Matters: Optimising sound spaces for good acoustics
Any luthier’s workshop requires a room or area with good acoustics to assess an instrument’s sound quality. Gideon Baumblatt and Simon Eberl explain how they optimised their sound spaces
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My Space: Olivier Calmeille’s Montpellier workshop
Examine the Atelier Scordatura in the south of France
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Trade Secrets: Purfling and edgework after closing the box
A method that allows for more aesthetic freedom than completing the plates before finishing the soundbox
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In Focus: An 1845 violin by Johann Georg Stauffer
Jakob Nachbargauer and Adrian Elschek examine a mid-century violin by the successful Austrian guitar maker
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Centre of attention: centring and alignment
Inspired by the work of the Cremonese masters, David Folland explains his method for finding the centre line of an old instrument
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A unique pairing: the ‘Paderewski, Wendling’ violin
In the first of a two-part article, Balthazar Soulier examines an extraordinary violin that displays the hallmarks of both Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and Domenico Montagnana
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‘I have been obliged to deprive myself of the copy of my violin’ - Letters to the editor: September 2024
A selection of letters The Strad receives each month from its readers around the world: September 2024 issue
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In Focus: A 1796 viola by Sebastian Dalinger
Rainer Michael Cocron examines the Austrian maker’s late 18th-century instrument
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My Space: Peter & Rory Boardman’s Donaghadee workshop
The father and son duo present their Northern Ireland workshop
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Where science meets art: Positioning the f-holes
Inspired by the work of the illustrious Cremonese masters, Alvin Thomas King presents a practical method for modern-day luthiers to position the f-holes on an instrument
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Making Matters: the story and influence of bow maker Joseph Arthur Vigneron
Marking the 100th anniversary of André Vigneron’s death, Hamilton Caswell considers the influence he and his father Joseph Arthur have had on the generations of bow makers that followed, particularly on bass bows
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A Stradivarian bow: a jewel of four facets
Recent research on the 17th- and 18th-century bows in the collection of the Musée de la Musique in Paris led to the attribution of a bow stick to the Stradivari workshop. Marie-Ève Geeraert and Jean-Philippe Échard shed some light on their discovery of this one-of-a-kind artefact
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Trade Secrets: Bow tip replacement – part two
How to shape the new tip after having replaced the ebony and ivory
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Raising the bar: Bass-bar experiments
Joseph Curtin reports on a series of experiments at the 2023 Oberlin Acoustics Workshop, which attempted to ascertain the acoustic effects of altering the height and scoop of the violin’s bass-bar
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In Focus: A 1969 viola by Gio Batta Morassi
Yuri Pochekin examines his own mentor’s viola
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Trade Secrets: Bow tip replacement – part one
Jenelle Steele explains a detailed method to remove an old tip and fit a new one, before shaping
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Making Matters: applying the ground coat to a violin
Making and applying the ground coat is a crucial stage of the varnishing process. James Ropp reveals his own method for a preparation containing no oil
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My Space: Daniela Gaidano’s Meltina workshop
The Italian luthier presents her forest-surrounded shop
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A closer look: Examining the ‘Salabue, Martzy’ violin
The Strad’s lutherie consultant Philip Ihle put together this month’s poster of the ‘Salabue, Martzy’. Here he points out several extra details to help luthiers make an exact copy of the instrument
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Resplendent harmony: Carlo Bergonzi ‘Salabue, Martzy’ violin 1733
The 1733 ‘Salabue, Martzy’ is one of the finest instruments by Carlo Bergonzi in existence. Jason Price examines the violin and looks at its travels over the past 300 years