Lutherie – Page 2
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Premium ❘ FeatureBow maker James Tubbs: London Calling
The British bow maker James Tubbs was born 190 years ago this month. John Basford looks back at his life, work and legacy to the bow making community
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: ‘Cryo-treatment’ of violin wood
What effect would subjecting spruce and maple to ultra-low temperatures have on their sound quality? Oliver Radke presents the results of an informal study into the ‘cryo-treatment’ of violin wood
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: The ‘Doratura Cremonese’ ground method
How to make and apply a ground coat with a deep golden yellow colour
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Premium ❘ FeatureDance of the swans: the bows of Charles Nicolas Bazin
The Tourte-model bows by Charles Nicolas Bazin represent the pinnacle of elegance and refinement in the history of French bow making. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the swan-head model, Richard Morency examines some of the finest examples
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: 1877 double bass by Gand & Bernardel
René Zaal examines the Parisian violin making house’s 19th-century bass
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Russell Stowe’s Woodbridge workshop
The maker presents his Suffolk atelier
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Premium ❘ Feature‘Master of the violin, artist of the soul’: Władysław Baczyński
Władysław Baczyński overcame a life of tragedy to become one of Poland’s most highly regarded 20th-century violin makers. Grzegorz Kaproń tells his story
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Strategies to fix wolf notes
Eliminating a wolf note can be the bane of every luthier’s life. Linda Lespets passes on four methods that can help to solve the problem
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Dínçay Gülenç’s Istanbul workshop
The luthier takes us on a tour of his Turkish workshop
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: A new approach to bracing flat-back instruments
This system of ‘responsive bracing’ allows for the natural movement of the wood
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Premium ❘ FeatureStars of Africa: South African tonewood
Wood physicist Martina Meincken presents the results of a study investigating whether indigenous woods of southern Africa might be suitable for use as tonewood for instruments
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Premium ❘ FeatureA unique poster: ‘Paderewski, Wendling’ violin – part two
Expert and conservator Balthazar Soulier has curated this month’s poster which, for the first time, features an ‘original composite’ violin: the ‘Paderewski, Wendling’, made by Montagnana and Guarneri ‘del Gesù’. Here he places this unique instrument in context and highlights complementary information to enable a better understanding of the poster ...
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1937 violin by Giuseppe Castagnino
Alberto Giordano examines a 20th-century violin by the Chiavari-based luthier
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Premium ❘ FocusAuction Report January 2025: The nice and the good
Kevin MacDonald finds a wealth of interesting lots at the October sales in London, from fine old Italians to a fiddle by a Cumbrian farmer
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Premium ❘ Feature‘Through how many hands an instrument has to pass’ - From the archive: December 1904
Felix Herrmann reports on the violin making methods of Markneukirchen, and how the work is divided up among the neighbouring villages
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Repairing a bow stick
François Louant presents a method for attaching new wood to the stick at the frog end, when the original material is unsalvageable
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1924 violin by János Spiegel
Zoltán Délczeg examines a 100-year-old instrument by Hungarian maker János Spiegel
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Premium ❘ FeatureMy Space: Mensur Avdić’s Tuzla workshop
The maker presents his workshop in Bosnia & Herzegovina
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Speed of sound in bow wood
Why is it that a violin’s sound quality can change so radically with a different bow? Massimo Lucchi explains the principle behind the speed of sound in bow wood
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Premium ❘ FeatureFive generations of the Weidhaas–Finkel bow making dynasty
Gennady Filimonov continues his survey of the great 20th-century German bow makers with a look at the Weidhaas–Finkel dynasty, which now boasts five generations in the profession
