Making a violin - step 11 - the bass bar
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- In this series I'll show and explain how a violin is build.
For this instrument I use a single piece bird-eye maple back and scroll and a spruce top. I build the violin on the A. Stradivari 1715 model.
In step 11 I make the bass bar.
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11:00 When I want my masking tape to be less sticky (to avoid wood fibers tear out) I stick it 1-2 times on my shirt before I stick it to the wood.The little dust on the shirt prevents it from sticking too much on the wood after.
I like this series. It's like hanging out in your shop while you work, except that we can't get in your way. Thanks for demystifying the construction of a violin.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It also feels as people are hanging around! Thanks for the company!!!
I am really enjoying this series. Keep up the great work.
A good tip with the masking tape is to stick it to your jeans before the wood. It remains tacky enough to adhere but comes off really easy without chipping the wood.
Thank you for you tip!
I am a student and I am following your videos to make my first violin. They are very nice I really like them, very insightful and precise.
Thank you for your kind words! Don't forget to subscribe so you wont miss the upcoming videos! Feel free to send me pics of your work.
I'm from Alberta Canada I enjoy your videos and they are the best explanations I've come across yet. Thank you for all the time you have put into these videos, I am sure you are helping an offal lot of people like my sell. Thank you again.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it!
Thank you Maestro Kimon. Very well done, as always.
Thank you very much Max!
If you had put two half lengths of tape on the belly, then each could have been peeled off from the centre with less chance of lifting the grain. Just a thought, but Julien's method sounds even better.
Superb..as always very crisp
Thank you!
Thanks!
I was taught to thickness the plates & tap tune them to be a semitone different (belly lower than back) before the 'f' holes are cut (although ideal to leave it thicker around the 'f' holes) & then after cutting them & before trimming the bass bar, use tap testing again during trimming of the bass bar until it becomes clearest in tone at the ideal finish & weight of the bass bar. Keep trimming & the clarity diminishes again. It is better to have the height to maximum & to thin the bar in a parabolic shape which reduces the weight but maintains maximum strength.
درود استاد بزرگ❤❤❤❤
Great video as usual Kimon!
Grazie Diego!
Currently at a fiddle camp, getting inspired by some amazing musicians! I was pleased to see this video, and get some instrument building inspiration as well :) Continue le bon travail!
Thank you very much for your kind words Philip! Planning to make your own instrument?
maestro-Kimon
I am really thinking I should try to build one!
Thank you for the informative video! I was curious what you think about the modernized enhancements that Dr. Peter Zaret has come up with, for the bassbar? It involves wood, (not sure if spruce or maple,) pieces that are placed on both sides of the bassbar, thickening the wood between the F holes and under where the bridge sits, and placing especially calculated small slots in the bassbar, that seem to go half way down, or up (orientation,) towards the sound board/bassbar joint. There's two slots part of the way up on the top half, and another two on the bottom half, of the bassbar. He said he did calculations on sound wave movement, etc, and the slots are precisely placed according to his calculations. He says, and it sounds like he's right, that it gives the violin better resonance, more volume, warmer notes, more presence, and can make a $500 violin sound like a multi thousand, hundred thousand, even multi million dollar one. He said most traditional Luthiers aren't interested in veering away from the traditional ways, so getting this improvement into the much lower priced violin market, ($100-$300 or so,) might be a lot easier than convincing traditional Luthiers to change to the new way. And if a modified $500 violin can sound as good as a $1M one, then would very high priced instruments have any relevance other than having a big 16th-18th century Luthier's name, or being kept as museum pieces?
@5:01, you explain the shaping of the bass bar. You describe how the bass bar does not have to fit perfectly. In fact there should be some space, between the bar and the top, so that when the two are glued together, the b-bar puts tension on the top, if I understand correctly. My question then is: does this tension, between the bass bar and top, help in part, to give the violin its voice? Is there one thing more than another that gives the violin its voice? In your opinion, Maestro, what is the primary thing the violin maker does to give the violin its voice? Thank you.
I understand the you are looking for "that one part" that will make your violin sound perfect but I'm sorry to say that that isn't how it works! Every part of the instrument influences the sound on it's way: the wood quality of the top and back, the thickens, the way you cut the ef-holes, the dimensions and tension of the bas-bar, but also the fittings, bridge, sound post strings ect. If you are working on your first violin, don't expect it to be perfect in one go. There is so much to learn.
@@maestrokimon Thank you for your prompt and in-depth reply, Maestro Kimon. My question, awkwardly expressed, was meant to be more towards what makes great violins sound great? Though you may have indicated the answer in your above reply, would you consider making, if you haven't already, a video giving your opinion, in some detail, on why Stradivari (and his contemporaries') violins sound so good? I feel I and your other viewers would be very interested in your thoughts. For the record, I do not make violins. Though I wish I could. I find the whole art and craft and resulting instrument enthralling! Thank you again for your generous reply. Stay well. (BTW, I am only a humble painter of pictures, I have never risen to those lofty heights of violin maker! lol!!)
Maestro! I’m really impress, thank you
Nice!
Great video as always 👍
Thank you!
You should consolidate all of your videos and sell a DVD course.
None would buy theme as they are for free on CZcams!!!
Where do you get your tools from? I like the little planes I have seen.
You can have a look to my video about my tools here: czcams.com/video/utYue9IDoxo/video.html
Years I spent, reading old books, and trying to find a tutorial on how to make a violin, and you Maestro Kimon has produce not only an amazing violin, but also an amazing series! I've been very interested in this artesan-craftmanship since I broke my first viola. So I been taking notes, and rewatching many times this videos to learn how to do a violin, to move into viola's which I believe must be different in proportions and materials. Do you know if wood from the tropics make good violin material especially from the Carribean? Also, do you know a very good book to suplement this series?
Thank you so much for your kind words!!! I think that the best woods to make stringed instruments are the ones we use traditionally. I know of many test and tryouts on this topic but it seems that there has never been a better result. A good book in my opinion, as it also has a lot of illustrations is "A Fiddlemaker’s Worksheets” by William K. Robertson.
Thank you for showing the process. How did you measure how much spring to give to the bass bar?
I have seen people measure the ends with feeler gauges, the bass bar on my 1857 Guarneri copy J.B.Vuillaume violin was put in a couple of months ago in Germany and the luthier had electronic equipment to measure the exact strength of the top so he knew exactly how much spring to give it. The plate was distorted by the old weak bass bar, but as I was told the new bass bar would gradually bring the arching back to where it should be, which it did in a month's time. The sound after the operation is beyond belief, but now that the arching has restored itself where it should be, I need a new longer sound post.
The approach of making a bas bar is different in an old instrument during a restoration and on a new instrument. I use a ruler and my feeling. My experience is that too much measuring (not only in violin making but also other nature- related topics like speakers and design) doesn't provide the optimal result as it becomes an overkill.
@@maestrokimon With respect, I submit my take on bass bars. The original arching has to be preserved in order for the violin to be vibrating freely. If it is weak, the arching is going to distort downwards from the pressure of the strings which defeats the purpose of the maker making that particular arching in the first place. This is easy enough to see to anyone with a straight edge. In such a situation, the bass bar has to have enough spring in it to ensure that the plate will not be pushed downwards. There are scientific ways to measure the strength of the plate in order to calculate how much spring to give to the bass bar. So far the bass bar making has been considered a black art, every individual has their own way and ideas of how it should be. It is however a physics issue and no more.
Im assuming the the tension on the bass bar is from gaps at the end of the bass bar not a gap in the middle (before gluing) Is this correct? Can you give anymore detail about the bass bar tension? Thank you so much!
You are right Michael. 1,5mm per side (measured at the edge) of gap will be enough (3mm in total).
Πολύ καλό βίντεο 👍
Ευχαριστώ πολύ Mr. T!
Necesitas unos Veritas Custom.... 😁
Could you tell me the measurements that you use to put the bass bar?
Thanks
For left hander's violins, do you think the base bar is better positioned in the right side? (where usually the sound post is located)?
Definitely yes! and the soundpost has to go to the opposite place.
I wonder how somebody figured out that they should put a bass bar and a sound post in there, and where they should put them.
Do we have a standard thickness for bass bar ?? Say 5.5mm ?? Thanks first
Nothing in violinmaking is standard!!! but 5,5mm will do the job!
@@maestrokimon Alright understood. Another question if you dont mind, is it a must to locate the bridge's left foot exactly center with bass bar ?? Thanks for your time.
In my opinion nothing is a must but everything influences the sound. But, as always in violinmaking, it's very hard to make ruls an conclusions. You should try both ways and see what suits you.
How about giving the measurements as you go ? Also were can be purchase the kit you show in the video ? Thank you.
I don't give a lot of measurments as they are related to the model that you are making. You can buy the mold an grandiliutai.it the website is under construction and will be online end of februari. You can also send an e-mail to ingo@grandiliutai.it
Just out of interest , what was the correct thickness and length ?
The thickness is about 5,5mm and the length somewhere between 89mm shorter that the length of the top and 27cm. There are different theory's on the matter!
@@maestrokimon Thank you so much Maestro 😁
Whats your record Kimon? Mine is 20 mins. I work mostly like you, except mayba I sometimes use addtionally chisels and scrapers. Most people use chalk to fit. I never use it becasue no matter hot good you try to clean it, it weakens the glue line extremely. I'm waiting for yout tuning video, which I lack experience on it.
To be honest I don't know! This time it took me a lot of time as I was also recording, so I had more to do!! I also don;t use chalk because, as you said, it leaves a mark that I don't like.
Practically, whene the two sides fit, also the center fits if it is a straight plane. It is not so wide.
Why is a bass bar built into the top wrong?? I would think that it would improve the tone.
Have a look to this video: czcams.com/video/xTlDf-EqOPc/video.html
What glue are you using for the small blocks?
Just a tiny drop of superglue.
great series but the bass bare was not enought worked
Thank you for your kind words. Did you need some more explanation?
@@maestrokimon yes sure!
Maybe you can have a look to part nr. 17, there I finished the bass bar.
@@maestrokimon ohh ok thank you!