A little while back this lovely violin came to me in many pieces, in a case that was in just as many pieces. It is a treasured family violin that had just gone through its second Lismore flood.
As restorations go this was one of the more memorable and not without its challenges. As became clear this was the second time it had been back together, featuring the good the bad and ugly of repairs in years gone by. There were some other types glues used, that had to be removed and an end block needed to be replaced.
It was held together with flyscreen and staples, and various tinted finishes applied that were not always a perfect match.
One of the challenges of a restoration is somewhat idealogical. I’m not there to fix, but instead to preserve, so there is a fine line here to walk, especially with the idiosyncrasies of any instrument and how far back to take a previous repair. In this case the violin had a least a few round of repairs, evidenced by the cleating style, replacement of some of blocks with Australian hardwoods and some more agricultural style repairs
Fortunately I was able to dialogue with the owners and make decisions along the way in accordance with their wishes and budget! If the violin was to be played regularly I would have updated the running gear, but as a display piece and a part of family history retaining the orginal components for example the tail piece and pegs maintained the authenticity in accordance with their wishes (and could still be played). If a future generation decides to use it for playing these can easily be switched out then. My motto , if it doesn’t need something done to it in the near term, then don’t do it.
Heres a few pics from the restoration, I started with the case and again one of the challenges was not to bring it back to sparkly new, but to restore it without changing it, so only a light cover of spirit finish on the parts that needed it was used, rather than redoing the entire case i felt was the best fit.
One of the challenges with the wood for both the case and instrument was removing the mud from it and then working with pieces that had differentially warped, that even with re-bending were a little un happy about returning to their former form.
Still it all came together quite nicely and was a pleasure to work on.
Ever seen those great looking cheap violins for sale online for $99 and thought “why are all the other violins so expensive”. Of course one play of them is usually enough to know why…but how do they make them for the price ? This one looks like reasonable spruce on the top and lightly flamed maple on the back. These violins are sometimes called VSO’s violin shaped objects
Looks like good quality spruce on the front
A deceptive nicely flamed maple back
Once the top is off all is revealed, what you have instead is a ply wood violin with light veneers of both on the outside. The plywood here is pressed into shape rather than carved (whoch takes a lot of time to do) and stuck together with what looks like a white PVA style glue. The bar bar looks like a piece of offcut pine with grain lines all over the place and the top and bottom blocks are similar. It’s very hard to get any kind of resonance out of a violin like this cross grain ply is just too stiff.
The piece de resistance though I think is the sound post – its actually fine grained spuce, so to the casual observer looking inside “oh good sound post, nice timbers on the outside…this violin must be OK!
The asking price for a violin like this is less that $100AUD – its probably a fair price for the instrument, but when you consider this is the cost of just a few violin lessons…it’s probably better to spend a bit more! See my new violins here and my preloved secondhand violins as well.
It is said music is a balm for troubled times. I find this to be true both as a player but also listner of music from this times. Here in Brisbane we have had an unseasonally large amount of water…it was also lapping at the door to my workshop…but thats another story.
Nearby composer Grant Arnold composed a piece about it for piano on his website. What I loved about it was not only the composition, but also he provided his thinking behind it…a real insight into a composers mind.
Further afield I came across ths image of a cellist in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The contrast of the music and the horrors of war all too apparent…errie and a powerful message communicated to the world through music.
My violin journey away from reading the “black spots” began early, with my first folk band at the tender age of 13, where were the Chris Haig violin books when I needed them? I loved the roaring pace of the Irish jigs and their Australian decendant tunes and tearing through the notes. I always had a wistful sigh though, for the guitar and drummer though who found a wonderful freedom behind the melody, to drive various rhythms, chordal progressions and dynamics to bring a nuanced depth to the music. Dial forward through numerous classical groups/performances, membership of many orchestras and a few theatre groups. It’s been quite the journey. Picking up again later in life I was determined to go Beyond Classical Violin and with a determination to free myself from the notes one of my most treasured resources along the way have been the Exploring/Discovering Violin book series by genre chameleon Chris Haigh ( http://www.fiddlingaround.co.uk ). Some other resources I have found useful I have listed here (classical, online classes etc..)
And so it was with great delight that I ordered his new Exploring Country and Bluegrass Violin book. Now to be clear I’m not a country music devotee, but there are lots of the elements of this music in music I do play and would like to learn in a pedagogical manner. These include rhythmic bowing, drone/double stops, fills, improvising/ harmonising and how to work with with singers in contemporary and worship music settings.
Previously I have enjoyed a lot out of his Discovering Rock Violin music book. An introduction to chording, pentatonics and his magic harmony trick all have had great utility. The Fiddle Handbook (I think its out of print but found one secondhand)was great tour deforce on no classical styles. His jazz book, Exploring Jazz Violin was great, well the first 3/4 anyway… after that my brain got a bit full!. I suspect this is largely because the genre doesn’t much grab me (though Gypsy looks fun), but the techniques and theory I learn’t in the book were quite helpful.
As a look back across the books there is a fair bit of overlap and I reckon thats more than OK, everything needs to be put into its proper context and coming at music from different angles really helps with clarity…eventually.
I like the progressive nature of the books and indeed the country one. Chris neither drops you in the deep end, nor belabours the simple stuff. It’s truely a progression using loosely the historical development of country music and the different genre influences along the way as a vehicle. So for me it hit my Goldilocks violin sweet spot, not too hard, not too easy.
There are plenty of worked examples and Chris works hard to provide accompanying audio tracks to play along with, and backing tracks as well. These are not done as an after thought but well integrated and really support the learning pedagogy.
Having said all of that, like his previous books you won’t be able to get through the book in just a few practice sessions and readings. I found I needed to dip in an out of it…as well as have a playing space (my jam group and other groups) to explore the ideas. It takes time to take head knowledge and get it to the autonomic nervous system to make music. At least now i know what I don’t know, know how to get it …and occasionally glimpse getting it!
Book sample courtesy : www.stretta-music.com
One of the serendipitous treats in Chris’ books, and this is no exception, is the the time he takes to fill in the spaces between the musical examples. There is background, history and lots of little nuggets along the way as well. Sometimes these little nuggets are enough to make the penny drop on something I’ve been struggling with. My perennial favourite is using scales not necessarily in the key of the song..I’m still chewing that one over..but at least for now i can say to my classical brain “its OK big fella just move on worry about it later” and then one pops out in a song …from my fingers no less!
Chris’ books come in around the cost of a single violin lesson, that is even if you could find a violin teacher that could teach you this stuff. And inside are hour upon hour of lessons you can do, annotate, go back and repeat. Just like any teacher you can hear Chris demonstrate the playing of the exercises. Also if you track him down on facebook he might even answer a question or two as well.
Exploring Country & Bluegrass Violin is part bed time reading, but most of it needs to be right in front of the music stand with my fiddle and computer with an mp3 player. Seeing isn’t believing, hearing is closer to believing and then the doing and the feeling is the real stuff! I’ve found to get the most out of the book I need to slow down the audio samples (by about 25%) so I can hear and play along with the nuances. Lots of computer audio players can do this built in. Learning something new is a cognitive process for me, so slower is better.
Book sample courtesy : www.stretta-music.com
Probably the stand out examples of Chris’ pedagogy in Exploring Country and Bluegrass Violin is the Bluegrass “Roll in my Sweet Baby’s Arms”, (and later the Banks of the Ohio) a simple tune which is given 7 pages of treatment, 8 audio samples where Chris introduces the various possible fiddle elements that could be added together progressively (and a reboot later in the book). Most important he shares his rationale and thinking behind it! If I had a wish for anything in the Chris Haig violin books it would be to do this more often. Yes it belabours the point and might be repetitive, but working through various tunes and keys it would turn his Exploring series into accompanying “workbooks” you could put on the practice stand and work through it.
PS I’m still wrestling about wether I want minor or major pentatonics in my head when I play …at least now I know they are the same thing …thanks to the circle of 5ths
Thanks Chris for your contribution to music! I might try one of your online courses one day too!
The tail piece are an essential element to any violin, without it there is nothing to hold the other end of the strings tight with. Traditionally the tail piece is made of ebony or another timber like rosewood. Traditionally strings were all low tension gut, so tuning up at the scroll end with pegs was no big deal.
However today we have much high tension strings and so it means there is more need for micro adjustments, so it’s a bit trickier up top. This is especially true with the E string which has the highest tension of all the strings.
So along came the fine adjusters to be added to the tail piece, which you often see on all strings, just the E or the A & E string. Why is in not on all strings rountinely? The problem is fine adjusters add weight to the tail piece and this is thought/shown to alter the tonal qualities of a violin. While the strings vibration is mostly on the other side of the bridge, there is a contribution from the tail piece side and extra weight meaning extra dampening of the vibration.
A committed player thus might just have a E string fine adjuster then and happily adjust all the others at the peg box end. The A string is a little tricky to adjust with the left hand for many, as keeping the peg pushed into the peg box and turning it ads an extra level of finese required. On many instruments out of the factory you will see all four with fine adjusters ….the manufacturers thinking is probably “let the player decide how many to keep on their violin”. Fine adjusters then also become something of a ‘signal’ to other players as to how advanced you are in your playing. Having just one is more traditional, thus looks way cooler, as you demonstrate your knowledge of knowing about tail pieces weights and its effect on your sound (imaginary or otherwise) to seperate yourself from the pack.
Enter the inbuilt self adjusters, these tailpieces come in at the weight of a wooden tailpiece – without the weight of the fine adjusters, the fine adjusters are also more discrete so you can’t see them from a distance. Purists don’t tend to favour them out of tradition, but also about concerns about the resonance characteristics in wood tail pieces being superior to any modern material.
For students the convenience of inbuilt fine adjuster tail pieces I think out weigh the aesthetics, also people playing outside of classical traditions tend to favour them as they are much easier to do a quick tune on in a band situation. They are a fairly quick thing to swap over and not to expensive either at ~$20 for an entry level one.
Getting fancy there are tailpieces with variable string lengths to the bridge to help with the tone production of each string. Lower notes have a longer wavelength and this give the tail piece side more room for them to swing. I’m not convinced but hey on an instrument as standardised as a violin and being one of 20 violinists in an orchestra, having some self expression and individuality on your instrument ain’t a bad thing and gives you something to talk about at the after party 😉
A common maxim you hear at violin shops is that violins bow should cost around 1/3 of the price of the violin. What madness is this? you reckon…its just a stick, all of the real workmanship is in the violin which is were the sound is made. This was certainly my view for a long time. That is until I made the step up from a student bow to a better student bow. Then as I was heading out to other music genres I started looking into carbon fibre bows…they have real advantages when you are cranking out the tunes…especially on electric violins…and also stand up to a lot more punishment both on string and on the stage (the orchestra is a pretty organised place ….rock bands less so).
But it wasn’t until I met my current bow, a serendipitous addition to a line up of various Coda Bows I was trying out, that all was really revealed about the violin bow costs. The bow every so subtly disappeared from my hand, as it became more of a part of me and less something I was holding. Yes this is a bit of “Harry Potters Wand“, but the translation to playing soulful pieces was immediate – it was one less thing to get in the way of expression.
Aside from the stiffness a more expensive pernambuco bow brings , which allows better transmission (and sensitivity) of power from the hand to the string there is much more going on Digging deeper into the science of the bow, you discover it does actually make half the sound through the grip-slip-grip of the bowhair and rosin…. through to the sympathetic vibrations down the stick itself. In a good bow you see all of the higher order tonal characteristics in a violins sound…in a less expensive bow you tend to see lower stiffness and less of these vibrations making them that much harder to produce on the violin.
A softer bow is great for beginners, its more forgiving of the nuances of technique so don’t worry about a more expensive bow till you feel you need something more from it.
Anyway your mileage may vary. if you in the market for a more serious bow, be prepared to take your time , a couple of notes won’t let you discover whats right for you. A part of a favourite song and a selection of bows to work through worked for me.
FWIW I stock mostly student bows ($50-75), picked from among a range of suppliers for the best price /sound trade off though, together with a few better quality (often European) fully mounted bows up to $250. I also keep a small stock of carbon fibre bows in the $150 range, that offer an increase in performance – but without the price tag you see on a lot of carbon fibre bows.
A lot of noise is made about “has your violin been setup” and setup correctly? Why? because its really important! Most factory violins arrive at a music store not ready to play and thus need to be setup. Higher quality instruments the maker will usually setup though.
Setup refers to making sure the violin is ready to play, of which the most important characteristics are the string height above the fingerboard, via the bridge is at the right height and fitted correctly to the body of the instrument and also at the nut. . Checking the pegs fit and can move freely with a dab of peg paste is next. Next is that the finger board has the correct scoop and that inside the violin the sound post is properly fitted and located and the tailpiece is the right length. Its a specialist thing and string stores all have people trained that can do it…but a generic music shop may not…and an internet violin…well you won’t know till it turns up! For a secondhand instrument these might need to be revisited
Violins are unique each and every one, however for sound production and easy of playing they are incredibly standardised. If strings are too high above the fingerboard that can’t be pressed down easily and will frustrate a player and their tone production.
A poorly fitted (and located) bridge will not allow the string to vibrate correctly, nor transmit its vibrations to the body correctly.
Some quick rules of thumb if you are checking out a violin, up near the nut you should only just be able to fit a business card between the strings and fingerboard. Any higher and fingers can’t press the strings down properly, any lower and the string will buzz.
Down at the other end of the fingerboard. The player should be able to fit the tip of their pinky just under the G string, and the gap under the E string is nearly half that. A smaller hand is probably on a smaller instrument where the heights are smaller. Also I didn’t give away the “trade secret” measurements of 5.5mm under the GString on a full size violin…oops
Looking at the bridge the feet should line up with the inside notches of the f holes and if you can see daylight between the feet and body it hasn’t been fitted. Inside there is some stuff with the sound post…a whole topic in itself.
So if your Ok on the fingerboard and the bridge probably the rest is ok..if its not …go to another store.. like Fiddler Dan 😉
Side note on beginner instruments I tend to leave the finger board nut heights a shade higher, as they are fitted with steel strings that tend to wear down a nut over time – as there aren’y too many 7 years old playing Paganini’s Caprices on them they are still quite playable. I also leave the bridges a bit chunkier, it takes out the shrill squeaky tone (admittedly at the expense of some finer aspects of tone production) and the bridge is less likely to warp if left unadjusted for a longer period of time so less likely to need a repair.
For many years I’ve found myself in Brisbanes various violin and musical instrumental shops, as well as the workshops of various luthiers. Like musical composition, every experience has something special. My local areas general music shops, now closed, include Music Express – where an acquaintance from school was working off and on for the last umm… 30 years, and Masson’s music. I’ve got to know John Masson a bit through the mens shed – he’s been in the game for a long time and knows just about everyone on the scene from my first violin teacher Pat Mallon and luthier Frank Williams to more recent times. John also gave me the encouragement to have a go with my own enterprise.
Across the river is the fabulous Animato strings. Dietrich is a former professional viola player from Europe and runs a wonderful instrument “cave”, full of European instruments and a good range of student instruments as well. He’s been my goto as I got back into playing, very generous with his time (if you go when its quiet), he is kind of like everyones favourite uncle in persona. I’ve bought more than a few instruments, strings and parts here (before I discovered wholesalers)…he also has these old European cases which make great restoration projects for my sons.
Closer to town in Red Hill is Simply for Strings, really built for the customer experience, its in an airy old church building and full of happy people and a wide variety of new instruments for you to try, with a good range of books too; bring your cheque book though its a salivating experience. On the Southside is relative newcomer Vivace with the main strings section down in their Underwood store and some branches in surrounding suburbs. Their string section is in a glassed off room at the back, with an impressive, somewhat imposing range of instruments on display, quite different brands to the other 2 stores too.
Trying out instruments
If you are in the market for new violin instruments, beginner to advanced these are all good places to visit , though I hope you’ll come see me!. One of the challenges with buying an instrument is being able to put it through its paces, especially if you are not as good as you want to be. Its easy to be put off by an imposing atmosphere, and a crowd…don’t be! you are there to find the instrument that works for you so take your time, try to go when its quiet if having other people around might put you off!
Brisbane Violin Luthiers
Brisbane is also host to some quality violin luthiers, while I like my luthier teachers workshop (its in an Artists community..kind the full package), he’s not in Brisbane so I’ve spent a bit of time in other over the years Frank Williams way back (who’s son now runs String Tech down Logan way), theres the Grawert brothers Olaf (at Dutton Park servicing and repairing high end instruments mostly) and Ilja (formerly at Woolongabba now at the Gap or up North Qld way), trained by their father. Holts Violin Shop, once a mainstay opposite St. Andrews in South Brisbane, closed long ago, though Mark Holt is still doing some luthiering if you know where to ask. Further south is Lance Scott, formerly of Holts and his own workshop in West End. On the Northside is John Simmers he is almost exclusively a maker now, trained in England at the Newark school he’s paired with some makers in China, so you can choose violins made entirely by him or in partnership with China – which really helps with the price point. I sometimes send clients to these chaps, depending on the instruments, it’s important to get the right expertise on the trickier jobs.
In a series of sound clips, heres an experiment in repairing a cracked violin eventually replacing a relief carved bass bar with a seperate fitted one.
To start with this was a student 3/4 violin (see inside it here ) that was sat on, the top cracked open quite badly – from the fingerboard through to the bottom in two places, also splitting the bass bar underneath and the back plate separated as well. This is right in the middle of where the violin develops much of its timber and tone on the spruce top tone-woods. After repair, cleating etc.. I put it back together…it sounded surprisingly good…dare I say better. This might be because I touched up a few other areas on the inside as as well…and that the repair to the bass bar stiffened it slightly. Have a listen as I compare it to an identical model violin…not bad hey?
Next up I replaced the bass bar with a fitted one, as the original bass bar was a relief carved one. Relief carved bass bars are a faster way to manufacture a violin as you simply leave the timber behind when making the violin, rtaher than having to fitt a seperate piece – which takes time. It tends to be done on cheaper violins..but you also see it on some old European factory/farmhouse violins as well.
The bass bar sits under the bridge of the violin on the lower strings and carries the vibrations to the top plate (lower notes need bigger vibrations a the wavelength is longer) as well as strengthening the violin.
A relief carved bass bar is made from the same timber as the top plate so the grains aren’t optimally aligned – neither can the bass bar go slightly cross grain. Whereas a fitted bar bar can travel slightly cross grain, has the grain lines in a different direction and when mounted adds a slight tension to the top plate – all of these factors allow it to improve the sound.
Here are the various sound files so you can see…err… hear for yourself the difference in sound between it as it undergoes the various transformations when compared to an unaltered violin of the same make.
I think it sounds better, though maybe after all the repairs doesn’t look quite as pretty
Of course this is a cheapish student violin so repairing a crack commercially costs more than the violin is worth…but its good to know that the sound quality hasn’t diminished from repair..what do you think?
Our good friend COVID is back in the community, this time the Omnicron variant. I am committed to keeping my workshop open, but have implemented some precautions. These are in line with the regulatory guidelines, as well as to sensably protect friends and loved ones, boths yours and mine!
When you come by please use the COVID Checkin App if you have it. I have a table setup just outside my workshop, so we can interact in an outdoor environment and stay socially distanced with little in the way of inconvenience. On your visit I will put on a mask, use hand wash on my hands and chin ( touch areas to a violin). I’ll wipe down the touch areas of any violin I handle before passing to you or your child, and afterwards as well for the next customer. I will do the same on my card reader and checkout tablet as well. Lets keep each other safe.
Our family has chosen to vaccinate, your choice is yours to make, you are welcome at my workshop.
