Violin Forum/Message Board

[Michael Darnton]

kjb: I've only done cross arches with lasers. Long arches are easier to do with real violins or photos.

Oded: I can't be responsible for what happens after I make it. :-)
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[pmccombs]

[rs]

Now that is an Amati model. Beautiful.
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Randall Shenefelt

[Michael Darnton]

The violin is a Brothers Amati model. The original that inspired it was from about 1620. It's set up as closely as I could to the way it would have been in 1620, with period-type fittings, fingerboard, strings. It's like what people who play ancient music on period instruments or period instrument copies use. The neck is glued on outside the ribs. Not being a total fool (that baroque neck set style tends towards failure), I also held it on from the inside with a large stainless steel screw that you can tighten through the endpin hole if it starts to loosen up. :-)

The endpin is "missing" because of how I hold the violins to photograph them. Unfortunate, but I've never taken the time to make another holder since I went out on my own, and just balance them on top of a mason jar for photos. The reason you can't take photos like that is because I started as a photographer, working in a photo studio when I was 15, up until I went to learn repairs at Bein and Fushi. At B&F, I took over all their archive photography for about 15 years, and my pictures are in a lot of publications and books on violins, so I have a bit of a head start.
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[actonern]

Michael, what's a good lighting setup for this type of shot? Something that minimizes specular reflections and doesn't throw hard shadows...

E

[Michael Darnton]

Exactly the problem! I use two small reflective mylar umbrellas, 24", I think, with two small (150 or 200WS, I think) Interfit monolights. The lights are high, at a bit above scroll height, pointed downwards quite a bit to throw the hottest part of the field at the bottom of the violin. They are moved around to the sides just far enough to cut reflections from the top. In my studio, they're like three floor tiles out front, and three and a half floor tiles to each side.

Before, I used 12" reflector floods in the same pattern. They were nicer in that they threw a real hotspot, that faded out at the edges, so I could equalize the top and bottom exposure perfectly, but the shadows were too harsh. The umbrellas make softer shadows, but I have to equalize the exposure more between top and bottom. . . . but now I'm using Photoshop; then I used film.

Basically, if you know about photography, it's just an exotic copying job, 3D instead of flat. Doing archival photos for expertise is not art--it's making the violin look flat so that all of the lines show up best.

For sexy stuff and product-type shots, I have a 24x36" soft box. For instance, I use that for photos for my partners' coffee business--like the too-long-to-load opening shots here: http://www.buzzkillerespresso.com/ (pan down--there are several pages below). . . . or for something more violiny, this CD cover: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankalmond/a-violins-life-the-lipinski-stradivarius/posts
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[actonern]

Lovely photos... and I really like the sound of that "Lipinski" strad... the lower end is on the verge of going nasal, but doesn't and has a beautiful balance of woody resonance and richness.

mmm...

[John Schmidt]

The curtate cycloid arching program http://jpschmidtviolins.com/cycloid.html has a long arch capability. You can read the description in the help section of this very neat program by Richard Thomas.

[fjodor]

I wonder if it's desirable to have a bit of a "breast" on the top long arch?
As an example the Marie Hall / Viotti Strad, that's said to be one of the best sounding,
seems to have little bit of this (maybe as a result of distortion?)
Link to images:
http://culture.teldap.tw/culture/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=307

(BTW I saw this violin on an exhibition in France some years ago, and it's a beauty!)

[Michael Darnton]

The Hills said that good violins had a good solid "breast". I think you will find if you make the arch the same height the same distance in from the ends (that is symmetrical in length, not the height proportional to the relative widths of the respective upper and lower bouts, as people tend to want to do) you will get an attractive "breast" without any fuss.

The one in your link is a little higher at the top, I see. I don't have a problem with that, but suspect that it's maybe distortion from neck torque. It's attractive, though, and I bet it works.
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[fjodor]

Thanks. If I understand you correctly the arch heights could be made pretty much symmetrical from both ends to the midpoint? (midpoint of the plate being the highest point of the arch)

On my last top I had the idea to make the long arch curve stay high a bit longer in the upper bout region to get the little extra "chest" that I'm talking about.

[Michael Darnton]

That's fine, too. It will probably happen over time which is why I balance them. Just don't do it the other way--a big belly. :-)
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[fjodor]

He he, that might be a winning look