Violin Forum/Message Board

actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

Michael:

Did you work on this violin???

http://darntonhersh.com/article.php?article_id=1

The f holes seem quite high on the table is that unusual?

E

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:06 pm Post subject:

Yes. It was a gigantic instrument, 360mm at least, if I remember, with a stop around 198mm+. Moving the bridge up brought string length somewhat closer to normal, which made it playable.

Oh, I was referring to the bridge, not the fs. They do look a little high. Probably Stradivari had some of the same concern!
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actonern · Super Member Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 444

You must, when doing your business on these instruments, pull a bow from time to time and test drive them to the best of your ability?

How would you describe the response vs. really well made new instruments?

E

Michael Darnton · Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:31 pm Post subject:

If it's just response, I can beat that. My wife came through the shop Sunday, after the Ann-Sophie Mutter recital (shop's in the block behind the CSO building) and I brought out some violins for her to try. Her ranking, based on how much she enjoyed them, tone+comfort, was
1/ Seraphin
2/ Darnton, the latest, two weeks old
3/ Stradivari
4/ [another modern maker, famous]

She felt the Steiner model Seraphin was the friendliest, then mine. The Strad she tried is a biggish one, and she's small and hasn't played in a long time, but in a strong player's hands it would have won the tonal test, if not response, and I could have made it better for her if we'd been serious. The other modern player she judged (appropriately) to be harsh and nasty AND hard to play.

Response is kind of a parlor trick--not too hard to achieve, and necessary, but not all there is to it, and to a great degree the result of setup, if the violin is basically OK. It's the sum of many things going on, all of which need to be optimized.
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new blog at my site! http://darntonviolins.com/blog
my work sites: http://darntonviolins.com and http://darntonhersh.com