Originally Posted by
ccravens
Any fiddle player understands the importance of sound post placement.
Yeah I remember when I was a kid I somehow knocked over the soundpost in one of my fiddles, I managed to get it set back upright in there 'somewhere' (didn't realize at first that the location was important), thought that was good enough until I heard the sound.
Then I spent a long time of trial-and-error trying to determine just the right spot where the soundpost should go, to make my playing sound less bad. (Given my skill level at the time, I wouldn't call any of the sounds I produced then "good", but "less bad" probably covers it.)
I learned something from that though, because prior to that, I thought that the soundpost's only function was to hold up the top.
(Had the same views of cake - I figured a cake's only purpose was to hold up the frosting.)
Something I found today on Australian violin maker Ilja Grawert's website:
"It takes years and years of experience to be able to put the sound post in the right place, fitting to the inner surfaces, under the right tension at the right spot. Many inexperienced people have tried to move it themselves or fit new one without the right tools and knowledge and have destroyed the inner surfaces of their valuable and irreplaceable Master violins."
Eek. I hadn't known that. The "tension" thing especially, I vaguely recall just wedging the soundpost in there snug enough it wouldn't fall over again. Good thing my fiddles were cheapy rejects, and not "master violins". Never did see any damage on the repositioned-soundpost fiddle, but I only had it for a few more years after that, who knows what happened to it later... I might need a new nickname, "Inadvertent Destroyer of Fiddles".
Bookmarks