Encore from Jan 12 concert with Alena Baeva & Vadym Kholodenko,
played on my latest unvarnished/white violin...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUvUHb_lR-E
Fun stuff!

Enjoy
Ed

Thank you!
I always like to hear the violin in the raw to hear it's character... like audio, there are many things about the sound of violins & over the years I've learned, it's not about how loud it is, but the way the sound is produced...
This violin is absolutely the best I've ever made because it's sound actually expands in a large hall. It's like when speakers are setup well, the sound doesn't seem to come from the speakers, but is all around you. With violins, it's the same, in a hall, the sound does not seem to be coming from the instrument but is everywhere energizing the hall. It's also a very open inviting sound... these are all things that are hard to describe, until you actually hear these effects.
I'm actually varnishing it now & will send some pics when it's finished!
Ed

Thank you Dom!
I also love to see the violins in the white before varnishing... there's an organic look & feel to them when you see the raw wood. To have these "formula 1 drivers" of violins test them naked, in the white is a real blast. They never get to play unvarnished instruments so it's goofy for them as well.

I will have a naked cello to test with Hayoung Choi very soon! More fun!
Cellos are a very different animal, I've only made 2 so will be interesting to hear it's 1st sounds...

Fascinating thing about these string instruments, Amati & Stradivari perfected the design 300+ yrs ago, time & tech have not been able to equal nor improve them. That is the fun of making them.

Of course the wood is critical to the end result & in the old days, they had no computers/tech, only their ears & intuition. Tapping a piece of raw wood will tell you a lot about it's character, the frequency of the ring, the speed of the ring all tell you something of how the finished violin will sound. Where the wood was growing determines it's grain structure & I've found spruce from the higher altitudes have very tight grain lines which means the tree had a very hard life. Spruce from the Dolomites in northern Italy is the best wood. As a result, the wood is harder, tougher & can be worked thinner which will enhance it's ring. This very tight ring structure is most important in the centre where the feet of the bridge are contacting the belly. The transmission of the string vibrations are quickly disseminated over the whole belly without much loss. This I found critical so I ask my wood guy to look for wood with this grain structure.
Like anything at the top of performance, everything makes a difference...
The woods are very standard, maple for the backs & ribs with a belly of spruce... but this is a very simplistic description, like saying Leonardo use paints to create the Mona Lisa...

Ed

Hi Steve!
Great to hear from you! You've been too busy making great tubed gear, no rest!
Great story about your horns! The word varnish can mean so many things... most varnishes "set" or harden which is likely what happened to your horns... the best violin varnishes actually don't fully "set" or become hard. If you left a piece of cloth on the violin for long, you would see the pattern of the fibers imprinted on the varnish! The best violin varnish is a very special compound... most oil based varnishes are not soluble in alcohol but the early violin varnishes of Cremona were totally soluble in alcohol!
It's taken me 10+ years to perfect, but my oil varnishes now have no colour added, yet vary in colour from yellow to red... the colour coming from the defraction of light thru differing thicknesses of the varnish pellicle. So when sunlight hits it, it will shimmer like a prism as you move the violin. A coloured varnish will always be just 1 colour... Also the oil varnish I've made is soluble in alcohol. It needs to enter the wood to affects it's vibrations. Cannot have too much & just enough will focus & intensify the sound... it will definitely improve the sound of this violin!
Once I can hear a great open soaring sound in the white, it will get better with playing & age! Funny stuff!

Strad used to hang his violins up in the attic to catch the sun which was needed to set the varnish. It used to take weeks to varnish a violin, then they went to spirit varnishes which set instantly so one could varnish a violin in just week. I cheat.... I use UVb lamps to set my varnish!

Ed

I viewed again with headphones. Only one word comes to mind, beautiful! Bravo Alena!

Good to display sealing the instrument with deep understanding of how the process can alter the resonance. I knew that after our conversations. When first watching the video it gave me shutters when she was handling the unfinished violin. Once oil gets in the cells it is impossible to remove without altering the resonance in another direction. It can also be looked as, speaking of another direction, the violin has the DNA of a very talented player!

I personally do not like to finish wood after completing a project. It reminds me of Forest Gump's famous box of chocolate sentence. No matter how hard you prepare the surface of wood the finish will alter it's appearance in good and bad ways. I look at it more as a preservative then a beauty enhancement. Some projects never get a finish, like my wood working bench. From time to time it gets hand sanded.

I watched the Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1 this morning with headphones. Alena is amazing with her instrument. It is easily discerned she is down to business in that video as compared to really digging and have fun playing your creation. Love the communication between the couple while performing and socializing. Glad we all spent time together.

Cheers!