instrument trials

4 cellos styles of Guadagnini,S Ruppert,.Stradivari,Montagnana

When it comes to trying out new instruments, musicians’ approach varies greatly. Some don’t tire of playing anything coming their way.

Curiosity rules for even a number of established professional players, who have found their own definitiv violin, viola or cello.

Others have a hard time using anything, but the familiar.

 My metier drives me to explore the vast differences between cellos.

I get a sense of a violin’s impact also, but ultimately I rely on feed back from consummate violinists.

Tom Wiebe exploring my latest cello at UWO

Are you planning on eventually buying another instrument?
Systematic and frequent trials give you the evaluation tools to make an educated choice.

Of course there is an immediate gut reaction, when you put the bow to the string, which is tremendously important.

Presuming this is a blindfolded trial, leaving out for now prestige or attractiveness (neither to be dismissed) there are basically 5 criteria to listen and feel for:

 Reed Yeboah Contemporary Violin Makers Exhibit,Kosciuzko Foundation NYC

 Timbre or tone colour, response, dynamic flexibility including projection, balance across the whole range and playing comfort.

If your interest is peaked and you are actively looking you might want to arrange for 2 weeks of intense trial, which will allow you tests in all sorts of rooms and situations.

 Is your first impression validated? An instrument shouldn’t demand hard bow work, but has to offer some resistance for the core sound to bloom. Does the instrument carry in a hall and measure up to a piano or is it just sounding loud under your ear? An orchestra situation and ensemble is excellent for testing balance. I want to I hear myself in the section and easily find the centre sound (play in tune) especially in pianissimo.

Try gaining experience without pressure. If you are around Montreal December 5, leforumdefabricants is one such opportunity to delve in and play numerous superior instruments.

After all this rational testing I admit, your instrument does not need to be perfect, but it does have to be wonderful.

Archings

Archings

At work on another Pulcinella* cello (more about this another time) today I am dealing with the top arch.

To shape the arching of the plates is for me the most creative as well as the most consequential challenge of the making process. 

The choice and complex interplay of curves determines sound and stability of the instrument and to some degree the thicknessing and inside vault.

Every three foot piece of spruce will have some run out. While jointing I always try to leave the bottom bout on the bass side with the longest grain, keeping  in mind that the continuous fiber will be correspondingly short then carving the bass side top bout.

This instrument calls for Engleman spruce, a lovely tonewood, native to the Rockies. If it is not hybridized with White Spruce, it is usually super light and homogenous, imparting a very quick silvery response. Engleman Spruce transfers vibrations relatively quicker across the grain than does European Alpine spruce, and is not as tough along the grain.

  PHASEI: I am using gouges across the grain to rough out the arch and an ordinary block plane to establish the general shape and height of the long arch. 

  Considering that I measured the specific weight (0.36 ) and felt the subtle resistance during gouging I stretch the long arch and allow for a good height (28mm or more). The long arch swings with subtle concavity into bottom and top block. It is a critical balancing act to ensure the plates resilience to the pressure without unnecessary dampening bulk.

  

  Thumb planes used along the grain allow me to blend the established proto arching  from centre to edges.

PHASE II: The sculpting of the cross arch is achieved by means of straight scrapers,sharp enough to produce shavings. At this point I don't want any sharp turns and blend the curves without creating bumps and holes.

   I want to maintain long arch strength in the central area, the "breast", while  defining cross arches .

   Luthier Quentin Playfair wrote an interesting essay on curtate cycloids, their history and design.Those are perfectly balanced curves, which embody maximum strength and flexibility in the change from convex to concave.






PHASE III: Positioning, design and integration of the sound holes ("ffs") reveals the experience and assurance of the instrument maker. Do the "ffs" flow within the arching? Will they allow the instrument to breathe? How strong is the connection to the body? Where does the arch hinge? How well does the plate move as a whole, while giving a healthy resistance? How much do they spread across the grain? How bolt or delicate are they and what will it do the air resonance? The choice of stop length (nicks) proportions the whole instrument. Carving the sound hole is a three dimensional concept and requires reshaping the surrounding cross arches. I will add that I introduce more swing
 (concavity) for this spruce. Slowing the  cross grain velocity warms the sound in Engleman in my opinion.
Yes, the "ffs" are sitting high, a feature grown with my Pulcinella model.

a fall feast at Sweetwater

This past weekend we enjoyed the 12th season of the 3 day Sweetwater Festival in  Owen Sound,    which was initiated by the adventurous violinist Mark Fewer. Again the palette of talent included 30 versatile musicians, some with local roots, some congenial spirits Mark encountered on the international stage.
For us luthiers of the region Sweetwater offers the exceptional opportunity to have our newest work put through the paces. This year the multitalented Drew Jurecka played 5 new violins by:
 David Prentice, Mark Schurr,  John Newton, Greg Walke an myself, Sibylle Ruppert, for our benefit and the interested public.
 Drew played a different Jazz tune for each of our violins, same bow, same room and with the same incredible panache and energy. And he enjoyed doing it!

Photo Michael McLuhan

To hear the differences and get feedback on what it sounds and feels like to the player is a lovely gift. Everyone present was intrigued by the huge differences in character of the instruments without being able to easily grade them for quality.
Sebastian Ostertag did the same for three new cellos: Johann Lotter (own design 2015), Greg Walke
Guadagnini (2015) and for my newest cello on a Ruppert outline.

Photo Michael McLuhan

Both Drew and Sebastian were among the musicians at Sweetwater, who perform on "new" instruments. Saturday afternoon offered a Bach suites marathon: All six suites for cello, six interpreters, six different instruments. Sebastian was able to express all the intricacy of Bach's rarely performed 5th suite in C minor in the church's nave on his 10 year old Ruppert cello.

Photo Michael McLuhan

Drew's Mark Schnurr violin shone in the imaginative adventureous Jazz concert on Saturday night.
The combo of  David Braid piano, Dean Mc Neill horn, (trumpet), the inimitable Joe Phillips bass with Drew Jurecka on violin fascinated the large appreciative audience with their warmth prowess and spontaneity.

Welcome to our blog, which will give you insight into our work and our play. My website has been frozen in time, but I have continued to work and immerse myself in violin making.

My latest Bergonzi inspired violin is going out into the world.
In the coming months I  am excited to be able to not only feature finished instruments, but get to highlight the process and the ideas that drive my work.


We are days away from the annual Sweetwater Festival in Owen Sound, which is such a dynamic, high caliber festival brimming with creativity.