Technical – Page 15
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FeatureAre dendrochronology reports useful in valuing an instrument?
Dealers and auction houses increasingly include dendrochronology reports along with high-value instruments, but how meaningful are they in verifying an attribution?
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Premium ❘ FeatureViews on the Bridge
In the second of two articles on set-up, Joseph Curtin investigates the acoustical role of the violin bridge and the interconnected relationships between mass, frequency and resonance
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Recreating original purfling
Precision and care are prerequisites for this detailed restoration method
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Ten out of ten
The great 19th-century French bow makers had to produce a large amount of stock to make a living. Christophe Landon explores how their working methods differed from ours, as he makes ten simultaneous copies of one Peccatte bow
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BlogsPostcard from the inaugural Australian Luthier & Archetier Congress
Peter Reid writes a first-hand account of the first international violin making workshop in Australia in decades
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VideoBBC Radio 4: The Instrument Makers
In this radio programme, cellist and presenter Verity Sharp hears the stories of four very different instrument makers
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Premium ❘ Feature7 things to remember when buying a bow
Bows, for so long seen as mere accessories, are increasingly attracting serious investors, writes Femke Colborne
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VideoBass conversion from 4-string to 5-string
This is the first in a series from the workshop of Thomas & George Martin on re-converting a German bass from 4-string (with extension) back to its original state as a 5-string. View the whole series on the Thomas & George Martin YouTube channel
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Premium ❘ FeatureAsk the Experts: how to fix a wobbling bow frog
A reader asks what should be done when a bow frog wobbles after a rehair – and what does it say about the rehairer? Two makers give their views
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Premium ❘ FeatureAll Set up and Ready to Go
In the first of two articles looking at instrument set-up, Joseph Curtin examines the acoustic roles played by the tailpiece and fingerboard in affecting vibration, frequency and resonance
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GalleryGallery: asymmetric instruments
These instruments are featured in The Strad’s September 2019 issue focus on experiments with asymmetry in instrument design
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Asymmetric neck shaping
A method that allows for deviation from the standard neck outline, for the comfort of the individual player
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Premium ❘ FeatureLife out of balance
While many luthiers are happy making stringed instruments to the standard form, others are keen to explore the possibilities of alternative patterns. Peter Somerford discovers how asymmetric designs can affect tone quality, projection, acoustics and player comfort
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Premium ❘ FeatureShould violin makers embrace cutting edge computer analysis?
Violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz explores how high-tech ways of analysing violins and their sound could help makers and even influence the future forms of instruments
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Premium ❘ FeatureTrade Secrets: Making a Tourte-style eye
How to use gold, tortoiseshell and abalone in copies of works by the ‘father of the modern bow’
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Premium ❘ FeatureMaking Matters: Keep the wolf from the door
Joseph Curtin describes a quick and simple method for violinists to eliminate a wolf tone on their instrument, along with the science behind it
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FeatureFirst principles of violin making: Music of the Spheres
In an age of little numeracy or literacy, how did luthiers settle on the proportions of stringed instruments, with hardly any variation in their basic design? François Denis shows how the principles of the classical Greeks – notably Pythagoras – informed their thinking
