All Technical articles
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1925 violin by Carlo Carletti
Leonardo Cella examines the early 20th-century instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Final scroll refinement
Some notes on finishing off one of the trickiest parts of the making process
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: How to make a lighter viola
For some violists, playing on a lighter instrument is their holy grail. Laurent Zakowsky describes his methods to accomplish this, from thinning the back to changing the chinrest
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn a spirit of collaboration: Brandenburg experiments
Makers at the annual Brandenburg violin making workshop joined forces on a two-year project to build and test two identical violins, one of which was made with treated wood. The results were intriguing. Adam Winskill reports on the methodology and findings
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Even split, even grain
A simple method for joining plates with even grain orientation
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A c.1880–90 viola by Enrico Marchetti
Sean Bishop examines the late-nineteenth-century instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: An 1822 violin by Georges Chanot I
Jonathan Marolle examines the French maker’s early instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a paper template for a scroll
A procedure that allows for accurate reproduction as well as being a stimulant to creativity
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Premium ❘ FeatureBending the rules: arching constructions
How can luthiers create an instrument’s arching from scratch? Sebastian Gonzalez presents a possible solution to an age-old dilemma, using simple formulas and the latest technology
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Extending the reach of metal F-clamps
Making wooden jaws for a lighter, safer long-reach clamping alternative
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Cutting the f-holes
The traditional method adopted by the luthiers of the old Mirecourt school
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A c.1690 violin by Giovanni Maria del Bussetto
Aidan Mullerkin examines the elusive maker’s instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureForms follow function: early Stradivari violin patterns
Unlike his contemporaries, Antonio Stradivari was trying out different violin patterns from the start of his career as a luthier. Philip Ihle examines a number of his early violins to discover how his art evolved
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Home-made tools for violin making
A range of innovative implements made by hand from carbon steels and high-speed steels
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1705 violin by Antonio Maria Lavazza
Claudio Amighetti examines an instrument by the little-known maker
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: An 1895 double bass by Vincenzo Postiglione
Luigi Sisto examines the late 19th-century instrument
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Custom crack-levelling clamps made with 3D printing
A new way to glue cracks without the aid of a mould
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Fitting a marquetry inlay
A guide to adding a unique, personalised touch to an instrument front or back
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Premium ❘ FeatureSmall violas: does size matter?
Luthiers Bas Maas and Francesco Piasentini report on a series of experiments in Villefavard, France, seeking to discover conclusively whether small violas can produce sound as ‘big’ as larger models
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Premium ❘ FeatureIn Focus: A 1705 violin by Giovanni Battista Rogeri
Julian Hersh examines an instrument made only a few years before the Brescian maker’s death
