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Violin Standards.As each day passes I am reminded of my belief
that the violin is perhaps one of the greatest creations of
human beings. What kind of world would we have had without the
violin? What would music be like without the
violin for solos, chamber music, concertos and symphonies with
orchestra, operas and oratorios and many
other forms of music for this versatile instrument? What else
could fill the lives of so many who go to concerts,
as well as the soloists, teachers, and thousands of players
including amateurs and young students who love
their violins?
Despite the importance of the violin during the past 400 years
or so, we do not know for certain the origins of
the violin. We do know that Andrea Amati made violins, and other
string instruments before Gasparo da Salo.
But did Andrea Amati simply wake up one morning, go to his shop
and make his first violin? Some have thought
that the viola and violin originated from the dispersal of Jews
and Arabs from Spain as ordered by Ferdinand
and Isabella, some ending up in Cremona? Maurice Riley discusses
the possibility that the violin and viola
originated from the lira da Braccia (pp. 7-11, The History of
the Viola, Vol I).
In any case three generations of Amatis from Andrea, the
Brothers, and the great teacher, Nicolo provided the
basis for Stradivari and other Cremonese makers. There followed
Guarnerius del Gesu, who may have even
worked in the shop of Stradivarius, making his first known
violin in 1720.
I made my first 40 violins about 25 years ago, starting with a
model based on Stradivari. My son made twelve
violins, two based on Stradivari in 1993 and ten based on del
Gesu in 1995 and 1996. I began making violins
again (after many cellos and violas) based on Guarnerius del
Gesu five years ago. I have well seasoned
excellent wood for making another 70 violins, if all goes well.
I believe, as stated more in detail in Chapters 5, 6,
and 7 of my booklet which can be readily accessed on this
web,The Standard Viola, that the wood used,
especially for the top plate, is critical for developing a good
tone. Briefly I use wood that has a density between .
370 and .390 for violins and with adequate stiffness (by
measured modulus of elasticity) along and across the
grain with longitudinal/cross-sectional stiffness ratios of 14.6
to 19.4. Charles Woods, a retired engineer and
violin maker has performed many measurements for me. He
recommends long/cross ratios of 10 to 20 but
never above 30. Carbon fibre has a long/cross ratio of 1.00 and
the stiffness ratio for balsa wood is about 99.
I never go too thin on top or bottom plates, having started
violinmaking using thicknesses based on Simone
Sacconi and Robert Cauer. As with cellos and violas I keep
careful records of each violin and try to copy the
wood and thickness schedules of the best sounding violins. There
are of course fads and fashions among
makers and dealers. I think that it is a great mistake to follow
the doctrines of lightness and thinness. Such
instruments may be responsive and loud but they may bottom out,
and lack colors, contrasts and
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expressiveness. I believe those that do research on the violin
should learn something by comparing modern
violins, some which have tone as good as the classics and makers
who have records of many things including
details of the arching, the wood used and graduations. I think
focusing on old Cremonese violins with
measurements of weight and graduation can be deceiving. See the
graduations reported by the Hill brothers in
their classic books on Stradivari and the Guarneris written more
than 100 years ago. Even then they had in
their hands violins that had been thinned out. Listen carefully
to recordings made by artists using differentviolins. Compare the
30 Stradivari and Del Gesu violins played by Elmar Oliviera in The
Miracle
Makers published by Bein and Fushi.
Arching is critical for violins, as well as violas and cellos. I
hope that I am close to following the arching of some
of the violins which I believe have the best tone the 1714
Stradivari Soil used by Menuhin and Perlman, The
Muntz Strad made in 1736, a year before the masters death and
the Kreisler 1733 del Gesu.
Adjustment for me is simplified for my own instruments. I
learned that it is important to center the bridge. The
join of the top plate as well as the back plate is centered, so
that the center of the end pin lines up with the
center of the neck. I am certain Stradivari as well as others
did the same. Otherwise how could the neck line up
with the centerline of the button so neatly. But I do not follow
the schemes of positioning the upper ff holes,
proposed for Stradivari by some modern makers. I simply place
the upper ff holes equidistant from the
centerline and then cut the inner ff holes exactly centered. It
then takes only a few minutes to check if the
distance from the inner ff hole is the same for the treble and
bass sides of the bridge. The bridge should also be
centered to line up with the diapson notches. The bass bar must
be positioned on the inside of the upper plate
so that the violin bridge overlaps the bass bar by 1 to 1.5 mm.
The sound post is positioned the same distance
inside the treble side of the bridge. I place the soundpost 2 to
2.5 mm behind the bridge. I make certain that the
post is perpendicular to the body of the violin; and that it is
placed firmly with top and bottom fitting exactly to
the upper and back plates. I find it interesting that some
players and teachers tap the bridge one way or
another to improve the tone, even before purchasing the violin.
There are of course others who say that they
just put in the post and move it around until they think the
best sound results. I was even told by a VSA
competition assistant that for violas made by a certain maker
that he could move the post all around without
affecting the tone! Caution! Never leave your violin in the
hands of anyone who may feel free to knock the
bridge this way or that. The tone can be destroyed by moving the
bridge in the wrong place, especially leaving
no gap between the post and bridge. It takes only a split second
to do this.
Evaluation of tone is very difficult. See Introduction and
Chapters 1, 3, and 7 ofThe Standard Viola. I believe
the methods discussed can be applied to violins. Viola tone is,
and should be, very different on all strings than
the violin. The best examples are the violins used by Kreisler,
Menuhin and Perlman, among others, including
some modern violins.
Playability is also important and I recommend that players who
try out my violins not be put off by things that
can easily be changed in the shop, accessories such as chin
rests, the kind of strings or string heights (see
Robert Cauers web site www.cauer.com). I began to learn
something about tone evaluation by listening to
music from a very early age to the present where I have ready
access to two University classic radio stations. I
have tried to attend as many live concerts as possible over the
years. I learned the importance of playing scales
across and up each string from Robert Cauer, comparing
instruments, with a good example on hand. One does
not need to be an accomplished player to do this and perform a
good initial evaluation of tone.
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