Tag: Luthier

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Lutherie Musical Instruments

Working on a Pink Fiddle

I’m starting to get back into doing some small repairs on musical instruments again. I have a Yamaha acoustic guitar that needs some work on it that may take some time, so that one is on the back burner. Currently, I am working on getting a violin back into playing order.

While scanning eBay a few weeks ago, I came across a pink 4/4 size fiddle that needed some TLC. The cool thing was, the seller was actually only a mile or two away from my house. I contacted him to see if I could buy it direct, and we agreed. When I opened up the soft case, I saw that it needed a lot more work than anticipated, but nothing that I couldn’t handle.

The body and neck are fine, but it was missing the bridge and endpin. The tailpiece and chinrest were there but not attached. The bow was a complete mess and not worth re-hairing, so it will be trashed. I ordered a new bridge and endpin and got them a few days later. The endpin proved to be too large for the end hole, so I ordered a violin peg reamer and got it a few days ago. This tool is a worthwhile purchase for anyone doing work on string instruments, especially the violin family. It is basically a tapered file that slightly widens a hole where a tuning peg or endpin should go into an instrument. I was able to get the endpin here to fit in a matter of seconds with a few twists of the reamer.

The way that the violin is strung up, it relies on each component resting on another to get the best vibration with the wood. With the endpin in place, the tailpiece can be looped over it, but it is not secure unless the strings are attached and wound to the tuning peg. The strings also have to be resting properly on the bridge, which needs to be placed in the correct spot on the top of the body. The bridge is probably the most important part of the actual violin, as it transfers the vibrations of the strings directly to the body, working against the top as well as the soundpost directly underneath inside the body. Bridges found on beginner and student violins are very basic. Professional violinists and fiddlers usually have a luthier carve special bridges that have a certain thickness (as thin as possible), weight, height and curvature to get the best sound.

While I am not concerned with getting a bridge that will cost three or four times as much as what I paid for this violin, I still want to use this as learning experience, so I will be working on making the bridge that I purchased to be better quality than when it came to me in the mail. This will entail thinning the entire piece with sanding, as well as adding a slight curved face to the side facing the neck. Thank goodness that there are a number of videos on YouTube that give some advice on violin repairs.

I already ordered a new bow, just a student one for under $15.00, as again I don’t want to invest too much into this project. I’m not interested in making this thing a professional fiddle, just a playable one that will inspire some young girl to want to play the instrument. It also gives me a chance to learn more about the skill of working on repairing and maintaining stringed instruments, something that I wish I could do as a full time job.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Musical Instruments

Quick Thoughts: 1. Rosa String Works; 2. Complaint About Gov. Whitmer

It’s Saturday morning, and I just remembered that I had a blog to post. My week has been busy caregiving my mom, maintaining her house, writing a few articles and looking for a job, so I forgot about this. So here’s a quick recommendation.

I mentioned the Rosa String Works YouTube channel in a previous post, but I highly recommend subscribing to the channel, or at the very least, checking in every few days. As a person that likes to do musical instrument repairs, Jerry gives some great home-style tips and advice. He videos some of his repairs, and talks to the audience in a very relaxing manner. It’s like sitting in the shop with your uncle or next-door neighbor and talking about mandolin repairs along with the weather and mowing the lawn.

Every one of his videos is magic. Whether he’s repairing a fiddle or the occasional non-musical instrument like his lawn tractor, Jerry has the answer for everything. I learn something new with every video. I also love that he has an assistant now, Caleb, who has the same Missouri drawl in his speech and is making some of the same helpful videos. There are also times when someone comes into the shop to test out a repared instrument and plays a tune for Jerry while he sits and listens. This is the down-home atmosphere that we all need these days while we are surrounded by fears of Coronavirus and riotous protests.

Check out some of his videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC29Dkc6-RMU8TCrloPN0Cbw

A few days ago, I was notified of the cancellation of the one remaining bluegrass festival here in southeast Michigan. It irritates me that the Coronavirus has made just about everyone nervous and on-edge to the point that every activity outside of watching TV is being cancelled. Yes, there are a number of virtual concerts online, and one bright side is that people stuck at home have been using downtime to learn a musical instrument.

However, I feel that we are being way too cautious in a lot of areas. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (as well as a few other state governors) have banned singing in church. Really? It was bad enough (and some could argue rightfully that it was unconstitutional) to close the churches in the first place. After opening and limiting attendance, something that has such meaning as singing hymnals can be banned? What is worse, the Archdiocese of Detroit (as well as other state dioceses) are cowering to the governor. When will the people of faith stand up for themselves and not allow an overzealous governor like Whitmer bully them out of their constitutional rights by using the Coronavirus as an excuse?

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Musical Instruments

Lutherie: My Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Therapy

Last week a buddy asked me to check out a mandolin online that he was considering buying. I gave him the pros and cons, and he eventually passed on the deal due to the asking price for its condition. That got me motivated back into one of my old hobbies – basic lutherie, or stringed musical instrument repair, building and maintenance. Ever since my first bass guitar (a Magnum short-scale Jazz copy that I re-wired with a 3-band EQ), I’ve always loved working on guitars and other stringed instruments.

I could kick myself that I did not pursue that interest when I was younger. I always saw myself with a small guitar shop that people would come to try out my work and perhaps have jam sessions on a Friday night. But alas, I went the college route, got a degree that proved useless, and have bounced around at various white-collar jobs ever since.

However, I continued my love on a small scale throughout my life, repairing electric guitar electronics, minor amplifier jobs, building effects pedals, and stringed instrument setups/maintenance. After the above talk with my buddy, I got to thinking that, because of this stay-at-home virus situation, I should do some basic lutherie work again. All of my current instruments are in good shape, and as I have mostly acoustic instruments, there’s not a lot of electronic work to do.

I went on eBay and found a Rogue A-model mandolin that needed some work done on the back of the body. I bid on it, my highest price being something that I thought no one would come near as the mandolin’s shipping cost was pretty high. I won the auction, and the total cost came out to about what would be average – $41.95 – not a bargain, but not killing the wallet either.

The mandolin arrived a few days later via FedEx, and when opened, I got to see the actual damage. About 1/3 of the back had snapped out of its joining with the side, which made it look like either the back or the side was shaped wrong. Inspection showed that the glue joint was bad, very little glue was used, and the wood joints were dry. At first I thought that I would have to re-cut that part of the back and glue in a 2nd piece, making it look like something the Three Stooges would have built.

Fortunately, before I pulled out the tools, I wedged my fingers into the soundhole, flexed the back a bit, and it snapped back into place. I carefully removed that part of the back again, put in some hide glue, re-snapped it in, clamped it, and let it dry overnight. Voila! It held, and all that I have left is to clean off some glue residue, check for any rough spots on the finish around the repair site (it may need some sanding and re-laquering in spots), and re-install the bridge for set-up.

This has motivated me to go back to eBay, and the internet in general, to start looking for repairable guitars, mandolins, and violins. It’s not that I want to have an arsenal of low-end stringed instruments, no way! What I would like to do is repair them and make them available to kids that want to learn bluegrass and folk music on the cheap. Making a non-playable guitar playable again is an emotional reward. I don’t see me making even a part-time wage from this. And even this simple repair and maintenance stuff takes time and some money.

It has got me to thinking that perhaps I could help start some form of non-profit group that repairs string instruments and donates them to a charitable music organization such as Junior Appalachian Musicians, which helps teach music to kids (if you haven’t heard of this group, you need to check them out at www.jamkids.org). Or perhaps starting a JAM type group in my area (I have discussed this idea with the Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association, as well as local multi-instrumentalist Aaron Jonah Lewis). Or at least do it on my own one instrument at a time. Hopefully some of the free time I have now can be used to research such an idea.

I would love to see young people in my area spend a lot less time by themselves in the basement playing XBox and more time with others (hopefully with a lot less social distancing) creating art and music. With technology taking over our everyday lives, now more than ever, I would hate to see creativity and socializing become a thing of the past.

Chew on it and comment.

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